A day after the minister made apparent jibe at the Bollywood actor Aamir Khan in the context of his the intolerance debate that caused a flutter, the Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar has said on Sunday that his comments was not targeting any specific person, but is against overall “unrest”.
Parrikar also mentioned that he was not against the “freedom of expression, but somewhere he feels that country is supreme”. While he was addressing the reporters in Pune on Saturday, the minister had taken a veiled jibe at Mr. Khan who had earlier expressed a “sense of alarm” over the “growing intolerance in country.”
Mr. Parrikar said that, one actor has once said his wife does not feel India secure, this was an arrogant statement. He gave an example that, if my house is small I would not start hating it, rather I will focus on building a bungalow.
Manohar Parrikar, Defense Minister
But addressing reporters a day later, the minister clarified that “I have not taken anybody’s name in particular. I had said that people, who do not respect the country, should be further opposed.
Parrikar had also said that, “When the actor had made these statements last year, people, while protesting his statement started uninstalling the online trading app, he had been advertising for and the firm too pulled out the advertisement (involving the actor).”
Also launching an oblique attack on JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar against the backdrop of alleged raising of anti-national slogans at Jawaharlal Nehru University earlier this year, Parrikar had said, “Such people who speak against the country need to be taught a lesson by the people of this country.”
In November last year, the actor had joined the chorus of a intelligentsia against growing intolerance, saying he has been “alarmed” by various incidences and that his wife Kiran Rao even suggested that they should leave the country.
