Nobel laureate and economist Amartya Sen on Friday said India has become “much too tolerant of intolerance”. Speaking at an event in Delhi, Sen said while India should be proud of its history of tolerance and plurality, it needs to put in some serious effort to preserve it.

Sen referred to both the Dadri lynching, in which a man was killed following rumours he had stored beef at home, and the protest by the country’s writers in which they returned their national awards. He criticised the “organised detractors” who came out against the writers’ peaceful protest. Sen was speaking on the right to dissent, and said that while the intolerance did not start with the current government, they have “added substantially to the restrictions already there”.

On Dadri, he said that the Constitution has nothing against beef, though there are some people who are offended by other people’s food habits. “Murders have occurred on account of hurt sentiments arising from private eating,” he said.