Union minister VK Singh on Sunday alleged that the debate about intolerance in the country was a politically motivated move ahead of the Bihar state elections. On the sidelines of the Regional Pravasi Bhartiya Divas event in Los Angeles, Singh said that the intolerance debate was an “unnecessary creation of very imaginative minds who are being paid with a lot of money”.

PTI reported the Bharatiya Janata Party leader saying that the situation was similar before the Delhi state polls, when a “small incident of theft in a church was depicted as an attack”. Singh asked where the protesters against intolerance in India were when activist Anna Hazare was jailed while protesting against corruption. "Which was the government in place at that time?" Singh asked, adding that inclusiveness was the hallmark of the current Narendra Modi-led government.

Singh’s remarks come after dozens of writers, filmmakers and other artists have returned awards and protested over the environment of growing intolerance in the country.