BJP has reacted strongly on Bollywood actor Aamir Khan’s remark on growing “intolerance” in India. Addressing a press conference in the national Capital, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said that India has made Aamir what he is today- A superstar and that India is the most tolerant nation.
“There is no better country for Muslims than India,” he added.
In a latest development, an FIR has been filed against Aamir in New Ashok Nagar police station.
Earlier, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi supported Aamir and said that the BJP government should try to know what is disturbing people and try to resolve the issue.
Instead of branding all those who question the Govt & Modiji- as unpatriotic, anti national or 'motivated'(1/3)
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) November 24, 2015
The Govt would do better to reach out to people to understand what's disturbing them (2/3)
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) November 24, 2015
That's the way to solve problems in India- not by bullying, threatening & abusing! (3/3)
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) November 24, 2015
Meanwhile, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor came out in support of Aamir and said that the former’s statement was taken out of context and added that it was in no way hostile to the government.
“Sometimes, statements can be taken out of context. If you look at the overall context of what he was saying, it was in no way hostile to the government, it was simply hostile to the kind of climate that we have seen rising in this country,” he said.
“His comment on intolerance is completely misplaced.Comments like this only bring the image of country and the Prime Minister Modi down,” Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told reporters on the sidelines of a function here when asked to comment on Aamir Khan’s statement yesterday at an award function in the national capital.
The 50-year-old actor had said he has been “alarmed” by a number of incidents and his wife Kiran Rao even suggested that they should probably leave the country.
Rijiju said communal incidents in the country has come down ever since the Modi government came to power in May 2014.
“Communal violence has come down since NDA came to power.
There were less number of communal incidents,” he said.
According to Home Ministry statistics, 86 people were killed till October this year in various communal violence incidents in comparison to 90 deaths in the corresponding period of 2014.
However, the total number of communal incidents till October witnessed a rise this year with 630 incidents being recorded as compared to 561 incidents in 2014.
In 2013, when the UPA was in power, the corresponding figure was 694 incidents, though that was largely on account of the Muzaffarnagar riots that claimed more than 60 lives.
As many as 1,899 people were injured in various communal violence till October 2015 in comparison to 1,688 people injured last year.
A total of 644 communal violence incidents took place in 2014, resulting in 95 deaths and injuries to 1,921 people.
Every word that @aamir_khan said is so true. I admire him for speaking up
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 23, 2015