How India proved its intolerance to Aamir Khan

Traitor, Terrorist, ISIS sympathiser, Ungrateful, Anti-India, Closet Pakistani and the choicest of abuse. That is how a section of our society labelled Aamir Khan, one of India's most loved actors, for sharing his thoughts on the perceived, current social environment in the country.

So how do you prove whether intolerance exists in a society? One of the straightforward ways to illustrate it is to see how people respond when their "tolerance quotient" is questioned.

In an attempt to prove him wrong, the vicious and personal attack on Aamir Khan may have unfortunately only cemented his lingering doubts over the increasing intolerance in the country. But has India suddenly become too unliveable for minorities due to our differences in the last 18 months? Maybe not. But that could also be because we have always felt uncomfortable tackling minority-related issues - whether it is on the basis of sexuality, gender, caste, region or religion.

While Aamir laid emphasis on how elected representatives need to make a stronger statement against dividing forces and sentiments, people heard what they wanted to hear. He never said that he wants to leave India; instead, he said that even the mere thought of leaving is disastrous. He could, at best, be blamed for having the views of someone sitting in an ivory tower, but not of being unpatriotic. Instead, a bigger disservice to the idea of a tolerant India was served by those who took to the dusty streets or chose to be a little more comfortable by sitting in front of their computers to make personal comments against Aamir Khan, his wife or anyone else who thought otherwise.

Though not a fan, I sometimes feel bad for movie celebs. On the one hand, they are accused of being silent and aloof on important issues, and on the other, we hunt them if they speak anything against the accepted mainstream narrative. Ranbir Kapoor was only recently quoted for saying that there is no freedom of speech in India. But these self-proclaimed "ambassadors of tolerance" went after Shah Rukh Khan when he aired similar sentiments recently. One could possibly say that maybe unlike Shah Rukh, Ranbir wasn't asked to go to Pakistan because of his religion.

Yes, there could be a debate on the rights and wrongs of a statement. But that conversation should not be reduced to a contest between which side shouts louder and makes more obscene comments when it can't present a valid discussion point. These people, who come with a short fuse, also happen to be inherently sexist and patriarchal. The way Kiran Rao, an established artist in her own right, was discussed and used to attack Aamir was more than telling of the way such people perceive a woman's role in a family and the larger society.

They won't even think twice before sharing and laughing at jokes which say "this is what happens when you listen too much to your wife".

But we hope that Aamir and those who share his sentiments try to understand that such hate-mongers are actually a minority themselves and that they do not represent the larger population of India. The modus operandi of such trouble makers is to create a perception about being a larger constituency than they actually are. They make the rest of us feel that they are the true representation of the masses, but nothing could be further from truth.

Don't forget Mr Khan that there will always be a larger population that likes you and your movies and makes sure they enter the 300-crore club no matter how silly they are.

It's just too bad that I am not one of them.