LIVE! Secularism under threat like never before: Nayantara Sahgal

November 05, 2015 17:48

Noted writer Nayantara Sahgal, who recently returned her 'Sahitya Akademi' award over the Dadri lynching case, has said secularism is under threat like never before and that individual freedom and rights have to be protected even these are guaranteed in the Constitution.

Sahgal, the niece of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, underlined that secularism is part of Indian culture "because for centuries we have had inputs from other cultures and all these have combined to what is India."

Asked if she feels secularism is under threat, she replied, "it is under threat today as it has never been before. Because today, there is a move, we cannot yet call it policy because when Narendra Modi made his campaign speeches (before 2014 LS polls) they were all about development.

"There was never any indication or suspicion that what was being promoted or would be promoted under his rule would be Hindutva, which has been the Hindu Mahasabha policy from the 1920s. Now that we see happening."

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