Intolerance Debate: How Shah Rukh Khan's comments exposed the right-wing fringe

Our onscreen heroes, who defy logic and belief in their films, often like to stay neutral and politically correct in the real world. The backlash is such, that major filmstars stay away from voicing their opinions. When Salman Khan expressed his views (sans vowels) about Yakub Memon on Twitter, he was forced to retract them after mass hysteria, while his father Salim Khan also described his comments as childish.

Shah Rukh Khan on the other hand, is someone who, despite being a mainstream actor, has never shied away from expressing his views. On his birthday last week, the actor decided to wade into the ‘intolerance and #AwardsWapsi’ debate. To be fair, SRK could’ve avoided it, he could’ve said he didn’t want to talk about it. Although he said that he often didn’t speak his mind, because he worried about landing his films in trouble, he said: “Religious intolerance, or intolerance of any kind, is the worst thing and will take us to the dark ages. Indians lose face over the questions that are asked. If you are a patriot, you must love your country as a whole, not parts of it as religions and regions.” He even supported the FTII students and spoke about how humiliating it was to have to prove one’s patriotism.

He said: “It is very degrading and humiliating to have to prove my patriotism. I am an Indian-born movie star. I am an Indian-born Indian. I am Indian - how does that get questioned? Nobody has more right to live in this country than me, and I am not going to leave. So shut up!" In another interview with India Today TV, he said: “There is intolerance, there is extreme intolerance...there is I think... there is growing intolerance." Shah Rukh added, "It is stupid... It is stupid to be intolerant and this is our biggest issue not just an issue...Religious intolerance and not being secular in this country is the worst kind of crime that you can do as a patriot," he said.

Asked whether he will give up his Padma Shri award, Shah Rukh responded, "I mean just for a symbolic gesture, yes, if I have to."

Now this isn’t the first time Shah Rukh Khan has spoken up about being a Muslim in India or riled the right-wing parties. In an interview with Outlook in 2013, he said, "I sometimes become the inadvertent object of political leaders who choose to make me a symbol of all that they think is wrong and unpatriotic about Muslims in India... I have been accused of bearing allegiance to our neighbouring nation rather than my own country..." 

This led LeT founder and 26/11 accused Hafiz Saeed saying he should move to Pakistan if he felt ‘insecure’ in India. He even spoke up about the non-inclusion of Pakistani players in IPL, which led to the lovely chaps from Shiv Sena to threaten his film My Name is Khan. Unlike other B-town superstars, SRK refused to bow down saying: “I request everybody to leave the film alone and deal with what I have said as an individual. I have no idea what I am supposed to apologise for. If I am in the wrong I would like to apologise, but someone needs to explain to me what is wrong.”

Shah Rukh Khan had reacted on Twitter saying: "Sad my statements are seen as a stand against a group instead of a stand for myself and my individuality. Differences in ideology should be grounds for debates & discussion. A must for freedom of thought. To see it any other way is so unfortunate."

Shah Rukh Khan’s views, as this dna article noted, was far more nuanced and balanced than those of ex-BJP leader Arun Shourie, but that didn’t deter the hate-storm from the saffron brigade, who seems to have taken the 2014 election results as indication that the nation shares their vile views.

Where’s the intolerance?

Sudheendra Kulkarni was attacked with ink

Even though SRK never mentioned the BJP or any particular party, some people, who could double up as Pakistan’s tourism board, swiftly got into action. Sadly, these statements came a couple of days after FM Arun Jaitley said that India was inherently liberal and tolerant, it looks like an illusion, when SN Channabasappa, a local BJP leader from Karnataka, is quoted saying he’d behead Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah if he ate beef. While the likes of Sakshi Maharaj, Sangeet Som and Mahesh Sharma kept quiet about SRK’s comments, there were enough "go-to-Pakistan" chants to go around.

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev said: “If he (Shah Rukh Khan) is a true patriot, he should return all the money he earned after winning the Padma Shri to the Prime Ministers’ relief fund, in case he plans to return the award.” BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted that SRK’s soul was in Pakistan and called him an anti-nationalist. BJP’s five-time winning MP Yogi Adityanath compared SRK to 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and said that the actor was speaking the language of terror. He said: “All such people should go to Pakistan where they will be shown their true position in the scheme of things. Hafiz Saeed and Shah Rukh Khan speak the same language.”

Meanwhile Sadhvi Prachi, also branded him a Pakistani agent while BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi seemed to blame an Enforcement Direct notice for SRK’s views. She also defended Adityanath saying: “I want the world to know that he (Shah Rukh) received an ED notice on October 26 and India became intolerant on the 1st or 2nd of November.” She also played the nation’s favourite pastime – whataboutery or where were you? – asking SRK about why he was silent when Taslima Nasrin was ousted or Rushdie’s book was banned. "He should raise his voice on the anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the Mirchpur or Gohana incidents. Several such incidents happened when Congress was in power but then they were mum," she said.

Sadly, all of them went out of their way to remind us that no matter who we are, if we dare suggest that everything’s not rosy, we will be vilified, attacked, denounced, our motives questioned and asked to go to Pakistan - because that’s a country which really needs some liberal dissenters.

The point is, despite how much the saffron brigade might shout, India in general is a place of tolerance and that's why the Indian way of life has survived for 3000 years. SRK's proclamation has increased the number of people who will now be wondering what all the dissent is about, the masses who wouldn't normally react to the voices of relatively less popular writers or poets. 

Meanwhile, the onus is all on Modi. Does Modi want the fringe to be vocal as he remains diplomatically silenced as Shourie suggests, or is the 9th most powerful man in the world having trouble controlling the lunatic element within his own party? Only time will tell, but the world is certainly watching and it's time for Narendra Modi to speak up.