Rahul Gandhi backs Aamir Khan over his remarks on intolerance

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday backed actor Aamir Khan after his remarks over a rise in intolerance in the country sparked controversy.

Gandhi suggested the Modi government should reach out to the people to know about the reason they felt disturbed.

Supporting Aamir Khan, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "Instead of branding all those who question the Government & Modiji - as unpatriotic, anti-national or 'motivated' the Govt would do better to reach out to people to understand what's disturbing them."

In a succession of tweets, Rahul Gandhi said: "That's the way to solve problems in India - not by bullying, threatening & abusing!"

Speaking at the Ramnath Goenka Awards ceremony in the national capital on Monday, Aamir Khan said: "For the last six to eight months, there has been a growing despondency I would say. Kiran and I have lived all our life in India. When I sit at home and talk to Kiran, for the first time she said, 'Should we move out of India?' Now that's a very disastrous and a big comment to make to me."

The actor went on to say that "she fears for her child, she fears for the atmosphere around us, she feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That indicates there is a sense of growing disquiet, despondency apart from alarm."

He added that "one part is alarm, another part is that you feel depressed, you feel low...you feel why is this happening. So, that sense does exist in me, to be quite honest."

Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted in support of the actor and appreciated him for raising his voice on the issue.

"Every word that @aamir_khan said is so true. I admire him for speaking up," Kejriwal tweeted.

"BJP should stop silencing voices through abuses and threats. It's high time that Central government took concrete steps to instill sense of security amongst people," he said in a series of tweets.