Congress paid those returning awards: BJP MP

Dibrugarh: BJP leader and Dibrugarh MP Rameswar Teli stirred up a controversy on Tuesday by alleging that writers, artistes, historians and scientists who returned their national prizes owing to 'intolerance' in the country, were "paid" by Congress to do so.

Teli told a press conference here that those returning their national awards in protest against 'growing fascist tendency' in the country "were paid Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh each by Congress".

He also claimed that the awardees had been honoured during the Congress regime and asked them whether they could also return the honour, respect and adulation they had received so far because of the awards.

On Bollywood star Amir Khan's remarks that his wife had asked him if they should move out of the country due to a 'sense of growing disquiet', the BJP leader said on the contrary Salim Khan, a famed screen writer and father of actor Salman Khan, has said that India was the most tolerant country in the world.