The Slovak-Hungarian dispute over the Bene? decrees continues. Commenting on the expulsion of large numbers of Hungarians from Czechoslovakia after the war, Marek Madaric, the Social Democratic Slovak Minister of Culture, claimed: "Not one Hungarian was resettled because he was Hungarian; only traitors and collaborators were affected." Marian Lesko is appalled: "Madaric doesn't know what he's talking about. Historians proved long ago that in addition to Hungarians who left the country of their own free will faced with the looming threat of violence, many were forced to leave against their will." Lesko adds that this isn't the first foolish remark Madaric has made. "This minister was also the first to describe Andrej Hlinka [the clerical-fascist Slovak leader back in the first half of the 19th century] as the father of the nation. This prompted the ultra-right National Party (SNS) to propose that Hlinka should be acknowledged as such. No wonder people are under the impression that the Social Democrats are following in the footsteps of the right-wing extremists."