Bollywood actor, theater artist, and poet Piyush Mishra has rejected the claim that intolerance has been growing in India, as claimed by many left-leaning writers and some celebrities including Aamir Khan.

In an interview given to Dainik Bhaskar, Mishra said that claims that intolerance had been growing only after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister were nonsensical. He said that communal divide and problems had always existed in the country and everyone, including Congress and Left parties, had only worked to widen the divide between communities.

He revealed that he was a impressed with leftists thoughts earlier in his life but slowly realized that the left too was guilty of spreading communalism in the country.

“Left teaches that Hindus are bad and Muslims are good. When Babri Masjid was demolished, I had actively protested. I had organized plays in North India and I had created a stir. How are Hindus bad?” Mishra revealed how he got disenchanted with the leftist politics.

“Left never told me about injustice that Kashmiri Pandits had to face. Loudspeakers blared asking them to vacate their homeland within 24 hours, but Left can’t remember these events,” Mishra explained why he considered left guilty of widening communal divide.

The actor claimed that he had even joined the left but he said that he was naive then. Perhaps he too got to realize that while left speaks about all the right issues, their practice never matches what they preach.

Mishra further said that he didn’t care if he was called a Modi supporter or a religious fundamentalist for speaking out on these issues. He added that he was not a Modi supporter and he could even support Congress if they got rid of Rahul Gandhi and propped someone like Sachin Pilot.

He however asked people to be patient and give the government at least those 5 years that it was elected for. “Mess created in 60 years will definitely take at least 5 years to get cleaned,” he said.

Speaking on other issues, the poet-actor called the FTII controversy right and justified the protests by students. However, he rejected the idea of Award Wapsi calling it nonsensical.