New Delhi: Under attack for his remarks on ‘rising intolerance', Bollywood actor Aamir Khan today clarified that neither he nor his wife Kiran Rao have any intention of leaving India.
"First, let me state categorically that neither I nor my wife Kiran have any intention of leaving the country. We never did, and nor would we like to in the future. Anyone implying the opposite has either not seen my interview or is deliberately trying to distort what I have said. " he said in a statement.
Adding that he does not need a certificate of patriotism from anyone, Aamir said, “India is my country and I love it. We have to save this beautiful country. I am proud of being born an Indian.”
“To all the people shouting obscenities at me for speaking my heart out, it saddens me to say you are only proving my point,” Aamir said.
"To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone's permission or endorsement for that,” he added.
Thanking everybody who came in support, Aamir said he stands by the comment he made during the interview.
"To all the people who have stood by me, thank you. We have to protect what this beautiful and unique country of ours really stands for. We have to protect its integrity, diversity, inclusiveness, its many languages, its culture, its history, its tolerance, it's concept of 'anekantavada', it's love, sensitivity and its emotional strength," he said.
Aamir had on Monday said he was “alarmed” by a number of incidents and his wife Kiran Rao even suggested that they should probably leave the country, drawing sharp reactions from the BJP and sections in the film industry.
The 50-year-old actor also supported those returning their awards, saying one of the ways for creative people to express their dissatisfaction or disappointment is to return their awards.
He said he also feels that the sense of insecurity and fear has been growing in the past six or eight months.
Aamir's intolerance comments created a stir in the society with sections of political parties criticising him, and some supporting him.
The ruling BJP attacked Aamir for his remarks and evn termed his statement as an act of ‘moral crime'.
Here is the full statement by Aamir Khan
First let me state categorically that neither I, nor my wife Kiran, have any intention of leaving the country. We never did, and nor would we like to in the future. Anyone implying the opposite has either not seen my interview or is deliberately trying to distort what I have said. India is my country, I love it, I feel fortunate for being born here, and this is where I am staying.
Secondly, I stand by everything that I have said in my interview.
To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone's permission nor endorsement for that.
To all the people shouting obscenities at me for speaking my heart out, it saddens me to say you are only proving my point.
To all the people who have stood by me, thank you. We have to protect what this beautiful and unique country of ours really stands for. We have to protect its integrity, diversity, inclusiveness, its many languages, its culture, its history, its tolerance, it's concept of anekantavada, it's love, sensitivity and its emotional strength.
I would like to end my statement with a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, it's a prayer really :
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,
Where knowledge is free,
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments,
by narrow domestic walls,
Where words come out from the depth of truth,
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection,
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way,
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit,
Where the mind is led forward by thee,
Into ever-widening thought and action,
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.
Jai Hind.
Aamir Khan.
