So much for free speech

Make no mistake about it: The declaration of prize money by the far-right Shiv Sena party (which has several elected lawmakers in the Parliament and is a constituent of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led ruling National Democratic Alliance), for slapping film actor Aamir Khan is, in reality, a slap on the face of India.
Hell broke loose no sooner Aamir, a Muslim married to a Hindu, spoke earnestly at a public function about his wife, Kiran Rao, wondering aloud one morning at the breakfast table if they should leave the country and settle elsewhere because she felt insecure in the current atmosphere of intolerance and feared for the safety of their young child.
Without pausing to reflect on the ground reality, which drove Kiran to even consider the possibility of moving to another country, the Hindu right-wing elements tore into the actor sparing Kiran. Baying for his blood, the BJP lawmakers branded Aamir a traitor and ordered him to immediately go away to Pakistan, Afghanistan or Syria, while the Shiv Sena announced a reward of Rs100,000 for giving Aamir a slap.
But, significantly, the rampaging bullies and goons didn’t utter a single word against Kiran! Nobody threatened to slap her, although it was she and not Aamir who thought of leaving India. She was spared not because she is a woman who always wears glasses. The actual reason for keeping her out of the firing line is pretty obvious to one and all and frankly needs no elaboration.
The preferential, kid-glove treatment is evident even in a joke doing the rounds on social media and elsewhere about globe-trotting Prime Minister Narendra Modi affectionately telling Kiran: Bol kaunse desh jana hai? Main tujhe on the way drop kar doonga. (Which country do you want to go to? I will drop you on the way.) There is no condemnation — not even a mild reprimand!
Jokes apart, the NDA government had not too long ago made Aamir the brand ambassador of its Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign while retaining him as the face of Incredible India, the flagship campaign to woo tourists globally. But now he is in the dock for “maligning” India. I think more than voicing his wife’s fears and her random thoughts of moving to a new place, Aamir is being viciously hounded for suddenly reopening the debate about intolerance which seemed to have tapered off after the Bihar elections much to the BJP’s relief.
Aamir is now paying the price — like other writers, scientists and actors who have gone to the extent of returning their awards — for joining them in talking candidly about the government’s failure to protect minorities and free speech enshrined in the Constitution. The Hindutva forces dub anyone demanding security and justice an anti-national bankrolled either by the domestic Opposition or external forces bent upon “undermining” India. And nothing galls them more than intellectuals’ insistence that Modi personally address the concerns in his capacity as the nation’s supreme elected leader.
Aamir has bravely stuck to his guns. Refusing to retract anything he has said, he has however declared that the Khans are not going anywhere. Clearly nobody can browbeat them into leaving India. But forcing those criticizing the ruling dispensation to issue long statements clarifying their positions and underlining their patriotism, as Aamir has been compelled to do, shows the world’s biggest democracy in rather poor light.
Criticism is not an anti-national act. It’s not a conspiracy against the government or unpatriotic to point out what’s wrong. Aamir — and Shahrukh Khan before him — have done their duty by participating in the intolerance debate. They could have shrugged off the burning issue affecting the common man and talked about their latest films or signed autographs instead. But they didn’t shirk their national duty — an act of bravery for which they must be complimented by the government and the ruling party instead of being vilified.
When the pro-BJP Anupam Kher, a brilliant actor married to BJP MP Kiran Kher, led a dramatic protest against protesters in the national capital, Modi threw open his doors and entertained them. But Modi has no time for those protesting against the government and demanding answers; both his mouth and doors are shut for them.
The intolerance for any unflattering-yet-true remark is embodied in a joke, which has become a rage. Kher goes to a doctor with a bad cough and the doctor says: “Oh dear, there is so much pollution that your poor lungs are suffering.” Kher loses his cool and shouts at the physician: “You are a traitor. You are unpatriotic. You are anti-India. How dare you talk about pollution?”