Aamir Khan Receives Brickbats Over Remark On Religious Intolerance

By M. Santhiran NEW DELHI, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Bollywood actor Aamir Khan has come under heavy criticism after he said growing religious intolerance in India may force him and his family to migrate. Several leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and social media users described Khan's statement as "alarmist". Khan, in a talk show in Mumbai Monday, shared this view, disagreeing with media and politicians who continued to link terrorist groups with religion. "Instead of calling them Christian terrorists, Hindu terrorists or Islamic terrorists, why can't they just call them terrorists?" said Khan in an interview. The 50-year-old actor said he was also alarmed at the level of intolerance and his wife, Kiran Rao, suggested migrating since she feared for the safety of their children. His fans took to social media and most of them tweeted in defence of his statement. They claimed that the recent killing of an elderly man in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly eating beef and a cow slaughter ban in more states continued to hinder religious harmony among the people of India. Several of his fans blamed politicians and growing fundamentalism for the discomfort. BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said Khan was entitled to his view but insisted that India is a tolerant nation. "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," he said. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted in support of the actor, saying: "BJP should stop silencing voices through abuses and threats." He was quoted by NDTV channel that it was high time the central government took concrete steps to instil a sense of security among the people. India has a population of more than 1.25 billion and nearly 16 per cent are Muslims. -- BERNAMA