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Friday, November 27, 2015

The “intolerance” debate…

Image Courtesy: http://www.quotehd.com 
Everyone seems to be more than happy to join the debate on how “Tolerant" or “Intolerant", we,  as a nation, are? From Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter or chat groups,  everyone has their own version of how we as a nation are doing on tolerance levels.

All hell broke loose when, during a debate, Aamir Khan, India's famous superstar admitted that his wife was scared to live in the country.  Aamir Khan incidentally raked in more than 300 Cr on his last release, by taking pot-shots in a lighter vein on mostly Hinduism and showcased how some people in the name of religion misuse the trust and devotion of millions to capitalise on their fears.

The movie PK was good and deserved the response it got, but is there any need to create a controversy before his upcoming release? Especially so, since his movies always get a positive response from the vast majority of the masses. When his wife, who is a Hindu, quoted that she is not feeling safe in the current atmosphere, was she referring to  the growing intolerance from the current regime or she was talking from the past experiences? We all know how Mumbai felt during 26/11 or infamous Bombay blasts  in 1993. Several other noted personalities came out strongly both in favour of and against what he thought and said.

Fine: I believe that every individual is free to express his own views whether it is positive or negative, despite his social standing in the society. One of our fundamental rights is that anyone and everyone is free to express his/her opinion on and no one can deny him this right. 

Yes, this IS a tolerant country where you can mock Hindu gods and still rake in money and Yes this IS an intolerant country where you are not free to speak what you are actually feeling. The radicalisation of religion in any form is not good for any civil society.


The hype and hoopla created by this statement was uncalled for, unnecessary and unwarranted by any standards. Let’s work towards a society where religion and opinion are not at loggerheads and people have other things to do rather than fighting on statements and triggers to disrupt communal tolerance. 

1 comment:

  1. Dear Mr. Rakesh, I relate with your words and it is absolutely true that India is very tolerant country. But ofcourse after few days or week we people will forget this issue and start watching PK or 3 idiots or Dil or so on because we like the character and whosoever the actor is and because like we forgotten beef issue or ghar wapsi issue or dharam parivartan issue in few days. The journey from Bharat to Hindustan to India is still very long because the thinking and mindset of Indian people is consisting of superstitious beliefs and following without knowing the fact. First we need to change our mindset than anything else. Kapre ache pehne se ya acha Khana khane se ache din nahi ayenge.

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