“I sometimes become the inadvertent object of political leaders who choose to make me a symbol of all that they think is wrong and unpatriotic about Muslims in India,” – Shah Rukh Khan in “Being a Khan” for the “Outlook Turning Points” magazine of India.
‘The Badshah of Bollywood’ Shah Rukh Khan who turned 50 on November 2 attended Twitter Town Hall meet. Khan’s remark on “Rising Intolerance in India” has opened a pandora box.
Here is a small glimpse of Khan’s Quotes during the meet.
“Religion cannot be defined by our meat-eating habits.”
“Whoever takes a stand against creative people will face a huge backlash.”
“In my house, everyone is free to follow their religion. My kids were confused about whether they were Muslim or Hindu, I said why not Christian? Sweet dish is prepared on Diwali in our house and I myself go to ‘Pooja’.”
“ I am an Indian-born movie star. I am an Indian-born Indian. I am Indian – how does that get questioned?”
“Nobody has more right to live in this country than me, and I am not going to leave. So shut up.”
“People put words in the air even before thinking. Intolerance religiously…not being secular in this country is the worst crime you can do as a patriot”
“Religious intolerance, or intolerance of any kind, is the worst thing and will take us to the dark ages. Indians lose face over the questions that are asked. If you are a patriot, you must love your country as a whole, not parts of it as religions and regions.”
But then Leaders know how to fish in troubled waters. Even though SRK never mentioned the BJP or any particular party, some people, BJP Party leaders have turned him anti national. Few even asked him to go to Pakistan.
BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted that SRK’s soul was in Pakistan and called him an anti-nationalist. BJP’s five-time winning MP Yogi Adityanath compared SRK to 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and said that the actor was speaking the language of terror. He said: “All such people should go to Pakistan where they will be shown their true position in the scheme of things. Hafiz Saeed and Shah Rukh Khan speak the same language.”
Sadly, these statements came a couple of days after FM Arun Jaitley said that India was inherently liberal and tolerant. But BJP strongly disapproved of Hindutva leader Adityanath’s comments comparing Shah Rukh with Saeed, terming them “uncalled for” and maintaining that they did not reflect in any way the core belief of the party or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
And then BJP pointed the finger at Congress, implicitly implying SRK is a congress agent. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said “And, when it comes to intolerance, then probably they are those illiterate people who do not know what the history of the country had been under Congress rule.”
“He (Shah Rukh Khan) should raise his voice on the anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the Mirchpur or Gohana incidents. Several such incidents happened when Congress was in power but then they were mum,” she added.BJP leader Manoj Tiwari said, “He (Shah Rukh Khan) has issued a statement when the Bihar elections are going on. He has always been close to Congress party and his closeness has been seen before as well. I consider his statement as a political comment.”
But the problem is it is not only BJP or Hindutuva supporters opposing Khan. Some of the Islam Community are also against Khan for his quote “Neither have I ever told Gauri (wife) to join me in Namaz, but she joins. Never has she told me Gayatri Mantra se Diwali me pooja karte hein, but I join.”. Hate comments against him included statements like he is not a TRUE MUSLIM and he does not deserve to follow Islam.
The problem got worse when people started to dig deep into the issue. The Anti-Sikh Riot, Destruction of 600 Temples in Kashmir, 2002 Gujarat Riot and so more are being added into the list.
While some are attributing the current ‘intolerance’ issue to the recent Bihar elections and says that the issue would fade out, others are considering it as a national issue and must be resorted to avoid further eruptions and insecurity within the nation.
The current “Intolerance” issue might have it’s root in the killings of writers who were against the idol worship and superstitious activities. It made 30 writers to return their awards. Further the killing of a Muslim man by a mob on a suspicion that he had ate beef fueled the flame and many started protesting against the government. Media covered it 24*7 making a huge challenge for the ruling government. Also the unnecessary comments from the BJP party members made it worse. What made it even worse was Prime Minister’s Modi silence on the issue. Just by standing against Current Government on Intolerance issue does not make Congress a hero. It had also it’s own bunch of historical mistakes. And covering a issue to make TRPs out of it is a job that media does regularly.
We shouldn’t be intolerant towards religion. There are other issues we need to be intolerant towards. Issues like lack of education, Women Security, and much more are overshadowed due to media’s attention on Intolerance in India. Just posting a FB post showing a pic of eating beef doesn’t help. Religious ideas are one’s own personal belief and should be respected.
But Modi has to break his silence and put an end to this issue. It is clearly evident that unless he could establish a control over the BJP Party members, this issue would be burning for next few months.
Update: Within a week, the media which rigorously covered SRK’s “Growing Intolerance within India” remark has now started to cover exclusive pics and videos of his next film “Dilwale”. This makes me think… were all these issues around intolerance just for the sake of Bihar Elections?
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Written by SGA Thomas
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