With eminent authors returning Sahitya Akademi awards to protest rising intolerance, Union Minister of Labour Mr. Bandaru Dattatreya said it was their individual right and intellectuals were free to act as per their wish in a democracy. He was attending an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Kolkata today. <br/><br/>Nearly two dozen authors have announced their decision to return their awards as a mark of protest since a man was lynched in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri area allegedly for consuming beef, and in the wake of murders of writers in the country. <br/><br/> Asked about yesterday's incident of Shiv Sena cadres pouring black paint on Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman of the think-tank Observer Research Foundation, Mr. Dattatreya said, that the political leadership of BJP has already commented on it and his stand is the same as that of the national leadership.