With reference to Laila Tyabji's article, "Free to question India's imperfections" (November 27), repeating ad nauseam a Sadhvi's jibe against actor Shah Rukh Khan or the culture minister's comment about A P J Abdul Kalam being "a good man despite being a Muslim" or the Haryana chief minister's remark on beef does not absolve actor Aamir Khan (pictured) of the clumsiness inherent in his loose comment of India not being livable any more.
The "despite being a Muslim" jibe is not a new one. At a garden party organised by the Gujarat Society (Gurjar Sabha) to welcome him in 1915, Mahatma Gandhi, referring to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, is believed to have remarked that he was "glad to find a Mohammedan not only belonging to his own region's Sabha but actually chairing it" (Jinnah of Pakistan, Stanley Wolpert).
Coming back to Khan's comments, it strains credulity that a Mumbaikar, who has lived through the 1993 riots, the 2003, 2006 and 2011 bombings and the 2008 terror attacks in the city, could not calm his wife, who was overwhelmed by the "atmosphere of growing intolerance, disquiet and despondency" in the past few months in India.
When asked a question about terrorism being linked to Islam, the actor resorted to the time-worn, cliched and facile apology of "Islam has nothing to do with terror" and "terrorists have no religion". Being a public figure Khan was expected to come up with something more substantive instead of perfunctorily washing his hands off of the subject of terror.
Particularly amusing was Khan's reply to a question about Dadri being visited by leaders of all secular parties after the mob lynching of a man, whereas Col Santosh Mahadik's funeral in Satara was attended only by the defence minister. Khan explained the difference in response, saying, "unfortunately, as human beings, a lot of us do have double standards". I wonder what Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who jumped to tweet his support for Khan, made of this observation by the actor.
Ajay Tyagi, Mumbai
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