Panaji, Oct 30 (IANS): Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a Hindu nationalist too, but he always put the nation first, former union minister Eduardo Faleiro said on Friday.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress party's headquarters in Panaji, Faleiro, a six-time member of parliament from Goa, said an atmosphere of intolerance and violence was growing under the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance.

"Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a Hindu nationalist too, but for him the nation always came first, unlike Modi," Faleiro said.

Commenting on the recent controversies about the beef ban and returning of the Sahitya Akademi and Padma awards by intellectuals across the board, Faleiro said: "An atmosphere of intolerance and violence is growing across the country.

"Under the NDA at the centre and several states, extremists dictate their views and in the process sharpen the polarisation among different communities on religious and caste lines," he added.