India is a tolerant country, says Anupam Kher at 'March for India' rally
The actor set out on a tolerance debate march to the President's house today
The actor set out on a tolerance debate march to the President's house today
Mumbai
: Actor Anupam Kher, who had criticised the filmmakers returning their awards to protest \"rising intolerance\" in the country, led a tolerance debate march to the President's house on Saturday morning.
As reported early this week, the 60-year-old actor said the march will include artists, writers and painters. The actor took to his social networking handle to say, \"We all have to speak up. Otherwise sometimes lies repeated constantly do tend to sound like truth.\"
While he did lash out against a few directors and authors, the actor also came out in support of his ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ co-star Shah Rukh Khan after Yogi Adityanath compared the Bollywood superstar with Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed for his comments over intolerance in India.
Kher blasted the controversial statements made by some of the BJP leaders against Shah Rukh saying, \"Some members of the BJP really need to control their tongue & stop talking rubbish about @iamsrk. He is a national icon & We r PROUD of him.”
The controversy started with senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya's series of tweets early this week, where he painted Shah Rukh as an \"anti-nationalist\" and said that the actor's \"soul\" was in Pakistan although he lived in India.
In an interview with DC, Anupam elaborated on his view of ‘Award Waapsi’ saying, “There is a large section of people who think that India is not going through intolerance. I’m one of them. I don’t see any fear in people’s lives. It’s also very important to be positive towards your country. The Dadri lynching and murder of Prashant Pujari were unfortunate events. You cannot say that now, in the last 14 months, the country has become very intolerant. And in 67 years, you cannot say the Emergency was not an intolerant period, the Sikh massacre was not an intolerant period and Kashmiri pandits being thrown out of their homes was not intolerant. We have dealt with it in the past. We are a very diverse nation. To term the country as intolerant is a way of embarrassing the government.”
At the march this morning, Anupam said, “Every country goes through problems but nobody has the right to call our country intolerant.” He even went on to say that Indians are secular people, who don't believe in pseudo-secularism or selective outrage. When asked what message he would like to give to the Prasident, that actor said “Message to the President is that India is a very tolerant country!”
Film makers Ashoke Pandit and Madhur Bhandarkar also came out to support the star.
We all are with him (Anupam Kher), never thought it would turn so big: Ashoke Pandit, Filmmaker on "March for India" pic.twitter.com/aUBGhek20P
We will meet the President, will also give a memorandum: Madhur Bhandarkar,Filmmaker pic.twitter.com/RYV7FFYHv6
Its a symbolic march. Me and Anupam Kher will be leading the march :Madhur Bhandarkar,Filmmaker on 'March for India' pic.twitter.com/znezDEUp3N
Veteran Bollywood Actor to lead "March for India" today, people gather outside National Museum in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/qW4jr4z8Ze