The more things change, the more they stay the same. That seems to be the curse of our times. As the culture wars in India heat up, more and more artists are speaking up and consequently coming under attack from political cronies spouting the same old rhetoric.
A case in point: Aamir Khan. After Shah Rukh Khan, it’s Aamir Khan who’s under attack for pointing out India’s “growing disquiet”.
The actor recently resurfaced at the eighth edition of Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards and spoke to Anant Goenka about fear, insecurity and rising intolerance in India.
“(Wife) Kiran and I have lived all our lives in India. For the first time, she said, should we move out of India? That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make to me. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That does indicate that there is a sense of growing disquiet,” said Aamir.
The actor, who is currently transforming his physique to play the role of a wrestler in his next film, Dangal, also spoke about the ruling party, the BJP as well as other sensitive topics like terrorism, religion, and censorship.
As a result, the actor has come under fire from several polarizing political leaders as well as Bollywood personalities, for stating the obvious.
Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, calling Aamir Khan ungrateful in code, stated that the actor was safe in India. “We won’t let Aamir leave the country, he is safe. This kind of comment influenced by a politically motivated campaign insults those who have given so much honour to Aamir in India.”
Kiren Rijiju, Junior Home Minister remarked, “This is unnecessarily tarnishing the image of the nation.” A spokesperson for the ruling BJP, Nalin Kohli commented, “You can’t take the exception to be the rule. You can’t be alarmist over stray incidents. Let us not define our country based on that.”
Post-script, Aamir Khan was also trolled heavily on Twitter and faced the wrath of several Bollywood names who reacted strongly on his comments. Anupam Kher berated the actor by saying: “Dear Aamir Khan. Did you ask Kiran which country would she like to move out to? Did you tell her that this country has made you AAMIR KHAN.”
Echoing Anupam was Rishi Kapoor who said: “Mr and Mrs Aamir Khan. When things are going wrong and the system needs correction, repair it, mend it. Don’t run away from it. That is Heroism!”
Aamir’s Rangeela director, Ram Gopal Varma, also joined the chorus and reportedly said, “Some celebs complaining about intolerance should be the last ones to complain because they became celebs in a so called intolerant country.”
Paresh Rawal, an actor and a member of the Parliament also reacted negatively to Aamir’s comments and said, “Aamir did not raise the intolerance issue earlier. Such comments by him may lead to unrest.”
Rising to Aamir’s defense were Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor as well as Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal who defended the actor and called out the BJP for silencing voices of dissent. “BJP should stop silencing voices through abuses and threats. It’s high time that Central government took concrete steps to instill sense of security amongst people.”
Courtesy: InStep Today (The News)
