A Twitter war has erupted since Monday night after reports on Aamir Khan’s remarks on ‘intolerance’.
Speaking at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in New Delhi on Monday, the actor had said that he was alarmed by a number of recent incidences.
Aamir’s comments on intolerance come after fellow Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan had spoken about the growing ‘intolerance in the country, earlier this month.
Khan said, “I can't deny. I have been alarmed by a number of incidents.”
There seems to be a clear divide with celebs choosing to take sides with the likes of Anupam Kher and Paresh Rawal - Bollywood stars who share a close association with the ruling party at the centre - criticising Aamir Khan. Actor Ranbir Kapoor echoing his father's statement, told India Today's Rahul Kanwal that he does not feel that the situation has worsened and the matter has been blown out of propotion.
Mr.&Mrs. Amir Khan. When things are going wrong and the system needs correction,repair it,mend it.Don't run away from it. That is Heroism!
— rishi kapoor (@chintskap) November 24, 2015 Dear @aamir_khan. Did you tell Kiran that you have lived through more worse times in this country & but you never thought of moving out.
— Anupam Kher (@AnupamPkher) November 23, 2015 Thanks Aamir for taking away nations attention from Lalu -arvinds jaadu ki jhappi ! It's a joke so be tolerant !
— Paresh Rawal (@SirPareshRawal) November 24, 2015 Didnt underatand Amir khan exactly. Seems like he was making a general statement. I wanna know what exactly made his wife decide going away.
— Heena sidhu (@HeenaSidhu10) November 24, 2015 Guess all those who did not want pm Modi to become PM,want 2 bring this govt down..sadly becoz of politics,they are shaming country ..
— Raveena Tandon (@TandonRaveena) November 24, 2015 Isn't Aamir,Sharuk,Salman,3 Muslims becoming biggest stars of a Hindu country proof enough that india is tolerant?
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) November 24, 2015 #ReligiousIntoleranceDebate It appears that in India today Literature is more powerful than Maths; Fiction is more believable than Data.
— Amish Tripathi (@authoramish) November 24, 2015 Instead of praising Indian Muslim clerics' fatwa against ISIS @aamir_khan decried "intolerance". A thinking man's actor? Huh
— Minhaz Merchant (@minhazmerchant) November 24, 2015 Aamir Khan is neutral. Speaks of 2006 Vadodara but not KP exodus. Takes on Hindu rituals, not Islamic ones. Raises intolerance without stats
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) November 23, 2015 Just learnt that Aamir's new movie is going to be released soon. How predictable! Intolerance rises around elections and releases!
— Amit Malviya (@malviyamit) November 23, 2015People supporting Khan remained consistent with their version that there was rising intolerance, similar to the lines on which many writers, scientists and artists have returned awards.
BJP shud stop silencing voices thro abuses n threats. Its high time centrl govt took concrete steps 2 instil sense of security amngst people
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 23, 2015 And can we please allow @aamir_khan to express his opinion without labelling him or anyone. Jiyo Aur jeene do is what makes India great!
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) November 24, 2015 Everybody's acting like they've never ever thought about leaving the country ever for even one second ever.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) November 24, 2015 Hey Sanghi Control Rooms:if you ask your trolls to viciously attack Aamir for complaining about intolerance, don't you just prove his point?
— vir sanghvi (@virsanghvi) November 24, 2015 I am not sure whether #AamirKhan or SRK said India is now intolerant. But we can see intolerance towards them for expressing their opinions
— Tinu Cherian Abraham (@tinucherian) November 24, 2015 What they don't understand is, that they are PROVING him right! Intolerance ranges from beef to religion to opinion! https://t.co/DH6X8CmPD2
— VISHAL DADLANI (@VishalDadlani) November 23, 2015 intolerance is not rising, it is flying. In Rajasthan, police fell floating styrofoam cow at art summit. https://t.co/7n2ZDisRji
— Hartosh Singh Bal (@HartoshSinghBal) November 22, 2015However, some of them have toed the middle line and played safe.
AAMIR is worried about intolerance! Think about the husbands in India who actually listen to their wives!
— SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) November 24, 2015 Intolerance has always existed n will continue as long as there r human beings.if it turns in2 law n order problem its 4 State2 deal with it
— Azmi Shabana (@AzmiShabana) November 21, 2015