Author Salman Rushdie, who came under attack for backing authors protesting against ‘rising intolerance’ in the country, rubbished the criticism by ‘Modi Toadies’, saying he supported no political party but was against ‘thuggish violence’.
The author was flooded with a barrage of hate messages following his tweet in support of Nayantara Sahgal and other writers, who returned their Sahitya Akademi awards protesting against its silence over killings of writer M.M. Kalburgi and rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.
“Here come the Modi Toadies. FYI (for your information), Toadies: I support no Indian political party and oppose all attacks on free speech. Liberty is my only party,” Mr. Rushdie tweeted.
“I think what’s crept into Indian life now is a degree of thuggish violence which is new,” Mr. Rushdie told a news channel.
