Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh on Wednesday asked the intellectual class as well as the protesting fraternity of literary icons to direct their energy into uniting the nation, which was their traditional responsibilty, rather than becoming party to anything that contributed to dividing the society.
"The role of the intellectual class including writers, performers and artists is to unite the society rather than contributing to anything that divides the nation. Whenever there has been communal tension in the country, this fraternity has stepped up. During the 1947 communal strife, they formed a community called the Progressive Writers Forum and vociferously opposed the partition," Singh told ANI.
Reminding the protesting fraternity that they carried a legacy of tradition which expects them to take responsibility of uniting the nation, he added that they must not become accomplice to any kind of debate the divides the society.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refused to relent from attacking the Congress over 'intolerance' by raking up the 1984 riots again.
"The debate on tolerance cannot have double standards and the Congress will have to make its stand clear with regard to the atrocities during the 1984 riots which was a structured attempt by them of imposing intolerance in the society," BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli told ANI.
The Congress, led by party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi led a march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to protest against the atmosphere of growing intolerance in the country and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of 'endorsing' incidents of hate.
