Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday appealed to celebrities like Bollywood actor Aamir Khan to be careful while making statements as their words may tarnish the image of the nation.
"Celebrities receive huge amount of love and affection from the people of the country. When they speak, they must speak for the interest of the country. They must be mindful that their words do not send negative message and cause damage to the image of the country. So, we respect the image of people like Aamir Khan as they are much respected people," Rijiju told the media here.
"My appeal will be only that be careful of the image of the country while making statements. This is a democratic country and people have the freedom to make their opinions. There is nothing wrong in making statements but country's image must be protected. Celebrities should be mindful of his statement and his image should not be tarnished," Rijiju added.
Rijiju also asserted that communal incidents have declined since the BJP-led NDA Government came to power.
"Our only point is that 2013 figures are with us of the number of communal incidents which took place in India when the UPA government was there. So, if you see the comparative number of incidents, it has actually come down. But such incidents should not happen," he said.
Rijiju's comment came a day after Bollywood actor Aamir Khan expressed "alarm" and despondency over the rise in such cases "in the last six to eight months" and even said that his wife thought of leaving the country.
Aamir, who was speaking at the eighth edition of the Ramnath Goenka excellence in journalism awards yesterday, said that a sense a sense of "insecurity" and "fear" had seeped deep within society.
