New Delhi: Booker Prize winning author Salman Rushdie, who came under attack for backing authors protesting against "rising intolerance" in the country, rubbished the criticism by "Modi Toadies", saying he supported no political party but was against "thuggish violence".

The author was flooded with a barrage of hate messages following his tweet in support of Nayantara Sahgal and other writers who returned their Sahitya Akademi awards protesting against its silence over killings of writer M M Kalburgi and rationalists Narendra Dabolkar and Govind Pansare.