Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has said that he too will return his Padma award as ‘symbolic gesture if he had to.
Speaking to India Today channel, Khan said that he too felt that there was intolerance in India.
He said,
“Just for symbolic gesture yes, if I have to. But, there’s intolerance, there’s an extreme intolerance. I think there’s growing intolerance. People just put words in the air even before thinking. And here’s a secular country. Here’s a country…We keep talking about modern India, we keep talking about progress and we keep talking about new India. Ours is a 25+ country, if we don’t allow our youngsters to be secular, they are not going to stand for it. It’s stupid to be intolerant. Being religious intolerant and not being secular is the worst crime you can do as a patriot.”
Khan’s criticism for religious bigotry come in the wake of dozens of eminent Indian scholars, scientists, film-makers, historians and writers returning their literary, Padma and national awards against the growing religious intolerance during the current central government led by Narendra Modi.
Khan was responding to a question posed a twitter user as to what he thought about the growing religious intolerance in India.
Renowned actor, Shabana Azmi, had thrown her weight behind those eminent personalities who had returned their awards against the government’s inability to check the rise in religious intolerance in the country.