The irony of it all: Aamir Khan speaking about intolerance is a little rich

By Sreemoy Talukdar

In a sequence of the satiric science fiction film PK, Aamir Khan, the protagonist, is seen locking a clearly rattled Lord Shiva inside a bathroom and threatening the pants off him.

The movie went on to earn Rs 792 crore, making it the highest-grossing Indian film of all time. The interesting thing is, it happened in a Hindu-majority nation where Lord Shiva is worshipped by millions. Pew Research Center, a non-partisan Washington-based think tank known worldwide for providing empirical data on social issues, public opinion and demographic trends recently conducted a survey on religious freedom .

The survey, that covered 38 countries and interviewed 40,786 people between 5 April and 21 May this year, found that India is among the world’s biggest supporters for religious freedom. Noting that in India there is strong support for gender equality and religious freedom, Pew in its survey, said the global median stood at 74 percent. Of all people, Aamir Khan should know that religious identity never came in the way of his success as a professional.

He is, after all, one of Indian cinema’s true superstars, a genuine A-lister in a country where majority of the moviegoers are Hindus. Growing up with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, it never crossed one’s mind when Aamir was busy romancing the leading lady or beating up the baddies on screen whether he was a Hindu, Sikh or a Muslim hero. But when a star as popular and influential as Aamir weighs in on the intolerance debate, one must take cognisance of it.

Data on communal incidents in India is notoriously hard to find. But according to the Union home ministry, a total of 2,715 communal incidents occurred in the country from 2011 to 2014. Around 680 incidents occurred on an average per year. The lowest number of incidents occurred in 2011 (580) and the highest in 2013 (823). The number of such incidents in 2012 and 2014 are 668 and 644, respectively.

What’s also interesting to note is that of the 35 states/Union Territories of India, only eight accounted for close to 85 percent of all the communal incidents in the country. Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are part of this group and were ruled by different parties including the Congress, BJP, NCP, SP and BSP at various points in time. The point to note, therefore, is that ever since the NDA government came into power in the summer of 2014, there has been no marked deterioration in the country in terms of communal harmony.

So when Aamir says that wife Kiran Rao wants to move out of India “due to growing intolerance, fearing for the future of their child”, it appears a little rich, if nothing else than for a blatant attempt at sensationalism. Aamir has long been accused of pretentiousness in his stellar career, raking up social issues as an extension of promotional campaigns for his movies only to dump those unobtrusively later when his purpose was served, be it lending voice to the Narmada Bachao Andolan ahead of the release of Rang De Basanti or taking up cause of differently-abled children just when the release of Taare Zameen Par was around the corner.

His copious and regular use of tear glands on the sets of Satyamev Jayate, a social-issue based TV show, also drew much mirth and memes on social media. It’s also interesting to note that Aamir continues to be the brand ambassador for government’s Incredible India campaign and, as Union HRD minister Smriti Irani told NDTV,  “Aamir Khan is a brand ambassador for tourism in our country — Incredible India — and that what’s incredible… that he can be a brand ambassador for our government and he can be on a platform in front of the Information and Broadcasting minister (Arun Jaitley) and speak his mind shows that free speech thrives.

Irani’s comments apart, Khan’s charge of ‘intolerant atmosphere’ in India is consistent with the way the debate has played out where dissenting voices were able to put across their views freely as they should be able to in a mature democracy.

The irony, however, is not lost on anyone.

Critics have also pointed out how Aamir, one of India’s highest-paid actors and a Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan holder, was signatory to a public petition signed in 2005 against Narendra Modi. The petition hauled up the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for criticising the US visa ban on Modi who was then the chief minister of Gujarat. The letter signed by Khan compared Modi to Adolf Hitler and thanked NRIs in US and Indians for adding to the cause of Modi’s visa ban.

It is in this context that we should see Aamir’s sudden prick of conscience which remained resolutely silent when massive and rampant corruption marred the last few years of the UPA-2 regime. One of India’s highest-paid actors, Aamir is entitled to his opinion. But as a youth icon in a demographically young nation which looks up to public figures like him, it is callous of Aamir to talk about deserting the country which made him. Aamir’s alarmist stand on a debate not borne out by facts or data is unfortunate and speaks volumes about the way one of India’s hugely influential actor lets responsibility sit rather light on his shoulders.