Mumbai, Nov 25, 2015, (PTI) : Under attack over his remarks on intolerance, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan today asserted that he stood by his comments and made it clear that neither he nor his wife Kiran Rao have any intention of leaving the country.
50-year-old Aamir, who drew flak from BJP and a section of film fraternity for expressing his "alarm and despondency" over the rise in recent incidents of intolerance, came out with a statement, saying he is "proud to be an Indian".
"First let me state categorically that neither I, nor my wife Kiran, have any intention of leaving the country. We never did, and nor would we like to in the future.
"Anyone implying the opposite has either not seen my interview or is deliberately trying to distort what I have said. India is my country, I love it, I feel fortunate for being born here, and this is where I am staying," he said.
The actor had kicked up a political storm with his remarks at a function in Delhi on Monday about his wife expressing fear for their child in the current atmosphere.
He had said, "Kiran and I have lived all our life in India. For the first time, she said, should we move out of India... She fears for her child, she fears about what the atmosphere around us will be."
In his statement today, a defiant Aamir showed no signs of relenting in the face of fierce criticism.
"I stand by everything that I have said in my interview. To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone's permission nor endorsement for that," he said.
BJP had hit out at Aamir, saying "Where will he and his family go other than India? There is no other better country like India and no better neighbour than a Hindu for an Indian Muslim. What is the situation in Muslim countries and Europe. There is intolerance everywhere."
Shielding him from the attack, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had said the government should instead of branding all those who question it and the Prime Minister as "unpatriotic, anti-national or motivated" reach out to people to understand what's disturbing them.
In his statement, Aamir said, "To all the people shouting obscenities at me for speaking my heart out, it saddens me to say you are only proving my point." He also thanked those who stood by him.
"To all the people who have stood by me, thank you. We have to protect what this beautiful and unique country of ours really stands for. We have to protect its integrity, diversity, inclusiveness, its many languages, its culture, its history, its tolerance, it's concept of ekantavada, it's love, sensitivity and its emotional strength," he said.
The actor ended his statement by quoting Rabindranath Tagore's famous poem, "Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, Where knowledge is free, Where the world has not been broken up into fragments, by narrow domestic walls, Where words come out from the depth of truth,
"Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection, Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way, Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit, Where the mind is led forward by thee, Into ever-widening thought and action, Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake."
Wading into the controversy, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said a "strong backlash" against Aamir only strengthened his views on intolerance.
"A strong backlash against @aamir_khan also amounts to #Intolerance. It would only strengthen his views on intolerance.", Pawar said on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Sedition case filed against Aamir Khan in Kanpur court
NEW DELHI, Nov 25 (TOI) : Bollywood actor Aamir Khan has been slapped with sedition charges in Kanpur sessions court for his 'intolerance' statement and the hearing is set to take place on December 1.
Advocate Manoj Kumar Dixit, who filed the case against Khan, said his 'anti-national' statement amounts to sedition.
The case has been filed under IPC section 124 A (sedition), 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on religious grounds) 153 B (Imputations) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).
Under fire, Aamir asks wife Kiran to leave Mumbai for a few days
Mumbai, Nov 25 (HT) : Bollywood star Aamir Khan, whose comments over growing intolerance in India has drawn the ire of right-wing Hindus, has asked his wife Kiran and their child to leave Mumbai for a few days for the sake of their safety, a source close to the family told Hindustan Times on Tuesday.
Khan, 50, is under attack from the BJP and other Hindu groups for revealing his wife had suggested moving abroad following a spate of communal incidents in the country. Noisy protests have been reported from outside his residence in Mumbai as well as Patna, where angry Hindu activists painted his posters with black ink before setting them on fire.
“Aamir has asked Kiran to leave Mumbai for 2-3 days since he has been worried about her safety. They have decided to not talk further on this issue,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
“The actor feels that he has already expressed his opinion on the matter and has nothing to clarify.”
A complaint has also been registered at a police station in New Delhi against Khan who made his comments over intolerance at a media awards event in the city on Monday.
“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,” Khan had said.
“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.”
Khan’s anxiety about his family’s safety may not be misplaced as a barrage of controversial Hindu leaders such as BJP MP Yogi Adityanath and VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi fired a barrage of shots at him.
“Out of Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, Turkey and Israel, they (Aamir and Shah Rukh Khan) should disclose the name of the country where they want to go. We will arrange tickets for them,” said Prachi.
For his part, Adityanath said: “Those who want to leave (India) must not be stopped.”
A complaint was also registered at a police station in Delhi against him.
Senior ministers also spoke out against Khan but the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party have backed the popular artist.
Khan has been sucked into a swirling debate over growing intolerance in the country with opposition parties accusing tacit approval by the ruling BJP was behind the spike in sectarian violence, such as Mohammad Ikhlaq’s mob lynching and the killing of Dalit children in Faridabad.