Amitabh Kant's comment on Aamir garners twitter support

Business Standard poll shows only 33% disagreeing with Kant

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary Amitabh Kant’s comment that Aamir Khan damaged India's brand identity by talking about intolerance seems to be garnering support among the Twitterati, a Business Standard poll found out. Of the 315 responses filed till 5 pm, 65 per cent agreed with Kant’s comments, while only 33 per cent differed with him. Two per cent of those who voted were not sure.

Kant had on Monday tweeted: “Being a Brand Ambassador imposes responsibilities. U can’t run down what u’re promoting. That’s damaging d brand.” [sic]

Being a Brand Ambassador imposes responsibilities. U can't run down what u're promoting.That's damaging d brand. https://t.co/mhHeZjYFrb

— Amitabh Kant (@amitabhk87) January 19, 2016

Kant went on to repeat his comments while speaking to television channels later that day. “A brand ambassador must be the best ambassador for promoting and marketing India, he cannot be the destroyer of the brand… If the brand ambassador of India promotes it as Incredible India, then people will come here for sightseeing and tourist inflow will increase. But if the brand ambassador of Incredible India! says that India is intolerant, then he is not working as the brand ambassador, he is damaging the brand entity of the nation... people won’t come here,” he Said.

 

Kant's comments sparked heated debates on social media platforms, rejuvenating the question of intolerance, which in the past few weeks had remained relatively dormant.

The Central Question in the Aamir Khan mattr is: would the govt/ bhakts hav reacted so violently if he had talked about rape,pollution, etc?

— Shankar Sharma (@1shankarsharma) January 20, 2016
 

Mr Amitabh Kant, If anyone has damaged the brand identity of India, it is Modi Sarkar's/BJP's vicious motor-mouths, not Aamir Khan. Get it?

— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) January 19, 2016

@amitabhk87 responsibilities yes. But criticism doesn't mean destroying brand value. It's a country we are talking about here. Not a product

— Sudhir Pratap Singh (@DesiCharan) January 19, 2016

@amitabhk87 its also UNETHICAL for the Brand Ambassador to Criticize the Brands - they Promote

— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) January 19, 2016

@amitabhk87 @radvaz @irfhabib this very idea of a brand ambassador, that too a local actor, for a country like India is laughable..

— umesh agarwal (@imumeshagarwal) January 19, 2016