Agony of a tolerant Indian….

Dear Amir Khan,

I have been a big fan. I have always admired your work and will keep admiring. From Andaaz Apna Apna to PK you have always performed your best. Your Jo jeeta Wohi Sikander and Dil Chahta hain are my favorite movies. I can watch them zillion times. Only you could portray the 20 years old college lad in 3 idiots in your late side of 40’s. You are the one of those who has represented our country at Oscars. Every time I go for a movie starring you I expect the unexpected…

Your Satyamev jayate helped me understand India better. I never missed a single episode, I cried when you cried, I liked when you empathized with the people on the show. You have always been an inspiration for many upcoming actors, you are one of the Khans who can act..You are the one who doesn’t accept any filmfare awards as you think the system is biased, I respect you for that.

You are a celebrity. You are an artist. You are not judged by your religion, colour, race or sex. You work in the industry that is free of all these boundaries. You are followed and loved by billions. I won’t be exaggerating if I say more people know you than they know politicians. Whenever you do something people follow. Whenever you say something people listen. From Incredible India to intolerant India we heard everything you said. The whole India reacted.

“As an individual, as part of this country as a citizen, we read in the papers what is happening, we see it on the news and certainly, I have been alarmed. I can’t deny. I have been alarmed by a number of incidents. When I chat with Kiran at home, she says ‘Should we move out of India?’ That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day.”

I know you will never leave the country. You love India like I do. So was there any need to confront on national platform about the rising intolerance. Is intolerance new in India? There have been many riots in the country since independence. I don’t know the reason behind this hue and cry right now. Have you seen any country that’s free of intolerance (in one form or other)? From USA, France to India intolerance is in every country. Haven’t you heard the cases of racial discrimination in the developed countries? Haven’t you heard the case of the teen Ahmed being arrested in school? Haven’t you heard that almost 70% of the prisoners in France are Muslims? Haven’t you heard that France recently banned the burqas? Isn’t this intolerance?

 I know in India people have freedom of speech. You expressed your feelings, however was it required? Your movie PK made fun of religion but was appreciated by one and all. Both the movie and your comment were on religion, but they had different impacts. Isn’t it important for celebrity to watch his/her words atleast in public? Mr. Khan, you are an icon in the country, loved by everyone. You are a star with probably a Z security. When you say something like this an Indian like me will feel insecure too.

All this happened after the dadri lynching case. A 58 year old Muslim man was beaten to death by his Hindu neighbors. It was brutal and inhuman. I strongly condemn that. The murder of MM Kalburgi a writer from Karnataka was horrendous. Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, a socialist and an activist from Maharashtra was killed in 2013. Different writers are returning their prestigious Akadami awards.

Wasn’t this happening earlier too? India has had a track record of communal riots Kashmir, Bombay, Malegaon, Muzzafarpur to name a few. When Muslims were killed, Hindus were murdered. Not only Churches were vanquished but also temples were demolished. Why the hue and cry now? Unfortunately, due to the existence of few intolerant Indians the whole country is suffering. This has to stop and people like you should come forward to stop this.

Mr Khan, India is a developing country and we have many other problems to lament. Shouldn’t we be intolerant about the security of women in India or about the roads in the metros or about the pollution in the county or about the Chennai floods or about the corruption in the country or about the rising suicides of our farmers or about the price hike or about getting an Oscar or about getting more medals in Olympics?

Regards,

A Tolerant Indian