Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi tweets support for Aamir Khan, says Govt can’t abuse those who question it

NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Mr Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the government should not “bully or threaten” people who question it as he came out in support of actor Aamir Khan, whose statement on ‘intolerance’ has triggered a huge row.

“Instead of branding all those who question the Govt & PM  Modiji- as unpatriotic, anti national or ‘motivated’, the Govt would do better to reach out to people to understand what’s disturbing them. That’s the way to solve problems in India- not by bullying, threatening & abusing!” the Congress vice-president #RahulGandhi tweeted.

Rahul Gandhi  support for #AamirKhan came shortly after Union minister Kiren Rijiju said the actor’s remark tarnishes the image of India. “All this debate is misplaced. There are issues which society as a whole needs to come together and address. But to just make a blatant statement that during the NDA rule, the country has become intolerant unnecessarily tarnishes the image of the nation,”Kiran Rijiju said, adding that records show the number of communal violence incidents have come down since the NDA came to power.

On Monday, #AamirKhan, joining the growing chorus of the #intelligentsia against intolerance, had said, “When I chat with #KiranRao at home, she says, ‘Should we move out of India?’ That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran Rao to make. She fears for her child. She fears what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That does indicate that there is this sense of growing disquiet, there is growing despondency apart from alarm.”

Aamir Khan  had made the remarks at the #Ramnath #Goenka #Excellence in #Journalism  #Awards ceremony in New Delhi in the presence of #NDA  senior Union minister Mr  #ArunJaitley.