New Delhi: Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar felt surprised and honoured to be acknowledged for his role in the Emergency by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, coming as it does on the heels of a recent visit to his home by BJP president Amit Shah.

Nayar, who has been a trenchant critic of Modi, pointed out that there was nothing personal, but it was ideological. "He believes in 'Hindutva' and I am against it. I am deeply deeply deeply secular," he told The Telegraph.

Asked about him seeing similarities, as early as 2015, between the current regime and the situation in the country during the Emergency, Nayar said he was referring to the state of the media in India, the kind of propaganda it was doing.

Modi hailed Nayar, the late Ramnath Goenka of The Indian Express and The Statesman for "standing up" against the Emergency. "Many of them were not our supporters either. Nayar is critical of us. But they fought for democracy, we salute them," the Prime Minister was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.

As to whether he agreed with the Opposition charge that India was living through an "undeclared Emergency" under the Modi regime, Nayar - who is seen as a peacenik in the India-Pakistan context and criticised often by the Right wing - said: "People are very afraid to speak."

Nayar added: "In the press, I do not find any discordant voices. Why don't journalists speak out?"

About his meeting with Shah, Nayar recalled starting out by telling him: "Look here, we don't agree with each other's views. Our views are different. And, he said 'I know', after which we discussed a number of things."