Kolkata: Eminent writer Nayantara Sahgal today took a dig at the government and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma saying she was awaiting the day when Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma would wrap up the naked statues at Khajuraho with a saree. Sahgal, 88, who actively participated in the protests against ‘rising intolerance' in the country, was speaking at a session of the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet (TSKLM) in Kolkata.
"The way things are proceeding now under Hindutva, I am just waiting for the day when the Culture minister puts sarees on the naked statues at Khajuraho because they are in a very dramatic sexual postures," she said.
Expressing her views on censorship, she said that the space for dissent has vanished and dissenters were now being attacked with sticks, stones, black paint and even murder.
"The silence of the government is its answer. Or it is busy defending the Hindutva ideology?" she asked, adding that censorship by mob had taken over.
"It is the mob which decides what is going to be censored with threats, guns and violence," added Sehgal, who returned her Sahitya Akademi award in protest against "rising intolerance".
Giving her opinion on the last Lok Sabha elections, she said the polls were fought on the model of development and not Hindutva.
"He (Modi) never said we would turn it into a Hindu nation. This is now the government's policy. Those who agree with us have the duty to stand up before we are converted into something which we did not wish to have," the writer said.
