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Too scared to say I'm Hindu in India: Anupam Kher

Kher's statement comes as surprise given his criticism of Aamir Khan's suggestion that he wished to leave India

30 Jan, 2016

Anupam Kher's done another about-turn.

After happily receiving the Padma Bhushan Award last week despite having bashed the awards' credibility in 2010, Anupam Kher has gone and said that he's scared to say he's a Hindu in India, reports Times of India.

His statement comes as surprise given his harsh words for Aamir Khan when he shared his wife Kiran Rao's fear about staying in India due to the growing "intolerance."

In a series of tweets, Kher had severely criticised Aamir's suggestion that he wished to leave India:

But now, Kher seems to understand where Aamir Khan is coming from.

Kher was asked about his views on the 'fear' experienced by certain Bollywood celebrities in a recent interview, and he said that everyone in their profession was scared, including him. When prodded further, he said that he is scared to say that he is a Hindu and if he puts a teeka on his forehead and wears orange clothes, people might label him as an RSS guy or BJP fanatic.

So Kher definitely understands the 'intolerance' that Aamir was referring to. Perhaps, it was just the idea of leaving that offended him?

Comments

Ravi Jan 30, 2016 03:08pm

1st it was Aamir and now Anupam... everyone wants to catch up media attention and remain in lime light. No one is scared in India.. this country belongs to all those who love it and are striving hard to contribute in its flourishing economy!..

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Adnan Mazher Khan Jan 30, 2016 03:18pm

What weightage does he or his words carry. He is a mere actor; noting more - nothing less.

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Sunil Jan 30, 2016 03:28pm

And Anupam Kher is a Kashmiri.

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Rohit Jan 30, 2016 03:32pm

Actually agree with him......

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K Jan 30, 2016 04:08pm

Fact of the matter is that no one want stay in subcontinent if he can get chance to get green card. Subcontinent is full of indiscipline and religious fighting.

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Just here Jan 30, 2016 04:10pm

Such a drama going on in India they and their tweeters.

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zak Jan 30, 2016 04:18pm

Put any colour on your forehead and do what you want. No one really cares. infact join the RSS and the brown shorts. just stop wasting everyone's time by trying to grab attention.

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Qamar Valliani Jan 30, 2016 04:23pm

In real life also he acts like an actor.

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jay Jan 30, 2016 04:25pm

@Adnan Mazher Khan --- no job is small or big , its the man who is small... have you tried facing the camera before you come up " mere actor " comment ? easy to show stupidity on net aint it ?

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raunak khan Jan 30, 2016 04:26pm

he is 100% right,

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IndianGuy Jan 30, 2016 04:33pm

What a joke he has been becoming lately. Seriously, need to find a job really soon.

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Athar Jan 30, 2016 04:38pm

He is right. What he wants to say is.. In india Hindus can not call him Hindu or perform Hindu rituals openly as people brand them RSS or BJP fanatic. Thanks to congress led anti Hindu and wrong defined secularism.

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Shed Hussain Akbari Jan 30, 2016 05:55pm

Bharat is no country to live in.

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Krezy Jan 30, 2016 06:24pm

People openly criticizing fear means existence of liberals... India should be proud of their diversity and all untoward incidents are vehemently criticized... its only matter of time when things will normalize (by the balance created by left)...

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Naxalite Jan 30, 2016 06:32pm

Shining India.

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Raja Farhat Abbas Jan 30, 2016 06:40pm

@Sunil So what ?.

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Proust Jan 30, 2016 06:42pm

Good joke Kher sahib.

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Kranti Jan 30, 2016 06:47pm

True told....

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JAVEDSARFRAZ Jan 30, 2016 06:52pm

Perhaps he may not be acting. Showing what he truly feels. Unfortunate that he fears in his native land.

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sudhir Jan 30, 2016 07:17pm

I can understand that coming from Anupam Kher.

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lafanga Jan 30, 2016 07:24pm

Really hard to believe

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SKG Jan 30, 2016 07:24pm

Common man Hindu or Muslim moving freely, does not care for any thing, busy with his work to take care for self or family. These celebraties who has every thing, making noise.

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BRILLIANT Jan 30, 2016 07:42pm

Like to know the reaction of Aamir Khan's wife on Anupham Kher's statement or Anupham Kher's wife reaction to Aamir Khan's statement.

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Shdhsn Jan 30, 2016 07:56pm

If Hindu and Muslim are scare of living in India, then question should be asked, who is behind this effort, instead everyone start bashing those who speak up... Find the real culprit and go after them. In Countries Like India and Pakistan all minors and majority stakeholders should live in peace. Don't hate your own countrymen.

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point of view Jan 30, 2016 08:02pm

Anupam Kher may be right to some extent.

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JODH SINGH Jan 30, 2016 08:16pm

Indians are doing fine. kher and amir khan are having views which are not good and both need to be condemned for their utterances. I was not expecting this from amir.

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Hasan Ansari Jan 30, 2016 08:18pm

You just said it. We love you still

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Ghosh Jan 30, 2016 08:20pm

No body seems to have understood the sarcasm Anupam meant !

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Citizen Jan 30, 2016 08:24pm

He is right. A Muslim can wear and flaunt his identity but when a Hindu does he is intolerant and communal.

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Bajinder Singh Jan 30, 2016 08:27pm

Anupam Kher actually tried to discredit the minority fears in India but in a way supported them by admitting intolerance in Indian society. It is obvious , minorities can not scare 80% majority . but it does give credit to minority fears from 805 majority. White house again today advised Indian Govt to take minorities in confidence in India, in response to petition signed by 100,000 sikhs to stop atrocities against Sikhs in india. It is second diplomatic win of Sikhs against Indian atrocities in a year. Last year also Obama in India gave a similar statement in response to another Sikh petition to White house.

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WaheedNoor Jan 30, 2016 08:55pm

He obviously is criticizing India's 'liberal' press. If you can not claim you are a Hindu in India (where Hindus constitute 80% of the population) what can you claim? Perhaps, that you are an Indian? Is it not great thing if every one forgets their religion and becomes unified under one banner?

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M.Saeed Jan 30, 2016 09:24pm

Being an actor, he is required to act in any role of any religion. He cannot be rigid in religion and still claim popularity in the diversity of religious divides of India.

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Vidyut Jan 30, 2016 09:27pm

The author has got it all wrong. Even if he wants to highlight the point that Aamir Khan made about India becoming Intolerant. He is forgetting, that India is not a terrorist state like Pakistan.

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Mohammed Ali Rizvi Jan 30, 2016 09:44pm

Anupam Kher or whoever, once, they start their career in the popular media, they comfortably swim in that culture. Once they have carved a niche for themselves, then jealousy and intrigue takes over, and they begin talking crap as if they, of all people are threatened by posing as a "devout Hindu or something". It is a farcical behavior. Amitabh Bachan, with his Kayasth background, very Muslimish, when he came to the Film Industry, was helped by many Muslims, notably Mehmood & others who helped him to be introduced to the Film Industry. Once established, now he speaks chaste Hindi, not the popular Hindustani vernacular anymore! Amir Khan's fear(like for so many others') are real and not contrived. Even though what he has done for India through Satyamev Jayate- None of these Johnnies ca do in a lifetime! Period!

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Tahir Jan 30, 2016 09:47pm

It is called playing the victim. The majority christian whites do it in the US of A when lamenting "A war on Christmas"; but it is they who are the most intolerant bunch. I suppose India is not immune from this either. Once you open the intolerance can of worms, all kind of nasty things crawl out.

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Bupi Jan 30, 2016 10:26pm

This was reference to so called Secular who feel happy to abuse Hindus be they be of any religion.

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gknatarajan Jan 30, 2016 11:00pm

WELL SAID ANUPAM!

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zaffar Jan 30, 2016 11:21pm

Better late than never to admit the truth. Anupam Kher

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Raja Ragu Raman Jan 30, 2016 11:39pm

Agree with him

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jerry Jan 31, 2016 12:33am

Many people here did not understand what did he meant to say.

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fawad Jan 31, 2016 12:50am

he is pointing out people who are pseudo-secular and over act to become secular actually start bashing majority. Everyone has equal rights, including majority. no one talks about sufferings of majority, he is pundit of kashmir, but no intolerance question was raised when he was facing problems.

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Shirin Jan 31, 2016 12:58am

Indians are most image driven and simply can't take criticism of India. It's all about looking good regardless of how many rapes and how many poor masses shoved aside to make rooms for more malls. Even Republicans are more honest. It takes real pride and sled esteem to expose the filth.

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Jamshed Jan 31, 2016 01:53am

Communalism in braoder sense is as old as Hindu civilization. If Castism and untouchability within Hinduism is not communalism then what it is. It is in Hindu ethos to ompartmentalize other Hindus based on their caste to desriminate . Muslims are bracketed with lower castes. As now RSS/BJP in power it clearly stands out more than ever before. But Anupam statement is a political ploy and who would dare confront him if he has tikka, choti and dhoti? Does any one asks Sikhs why they wear turbans?

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Jawad Jan 31, 2016 03:19am

He meant to say that being minority Muslims have more rights than Hindus in India. He is a Kashmiri Pandit and still can't return to his home in Kashmir Valley due to ethnic cleansing by...you know who. Besides, there are archaeic rules in India that discriminate Hindus.

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Samad Chaudhry London Jan 31, 2016 04:28am

self proclaimed politician in Bollywood while becoming a member of BJP an offshoot of RSS and Shiv Sena In coming days he will loose all popularity that he once had perhaps because of Kiran Kher

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Alien Jan 31, 2016 04:28am

K her is very genuine actor and Indian. Kashmir Hindus know the plight of being refugee in their own country. Live and let live

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Rashid Jan 31, 2016 04:47am

This is according to Indian friends - Congress Govts. since Nehru days have attempted to a create Muslim vote bank in India by appeasing the community. Why should a secular state have Muslim laws? Why should a secular state honour such laws? Why should a secular state subsidize Hajj travel at the cost of tax payers? When majority is asking these questions Congress and it's followers are on fire and they have started criticizing Modi Govt. & RSS. The Congress supported / pay-rolled writes and journalists are busy in writing fiery articles against Modi Govt. The real question is who is intolerant. I agree with Mr. Kher that Majority community is seeing the intolerance of minority community.

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deepak Jan 31, 2016 04:53am

Bollywood actors are not the most informed of people, so anything they say especially things outside the ambit of their meagre understanding should not be taken seriously. Anyway most actors are known to be close to the Congress and Sonia Gandhi family (read Shah Rukh Khan). Truth is India is growing and there's great promise all around with schemes like start-up India, smart cities, Clean India movement etc. Modi seems to be serious about inclusive development and I was never even a big fan of the man. Sure there are bad cases like beef related lynching but these examples are few and far between. There's largely great secularism on display in India, anyone who says otherwise is trying to create trouble.

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Saulat Haider Jan 31, 2016 06:16am

I like Mr. Anupam. He is very versatile actor and my favorite. In India if you belong to ethnic minority there is chances you are treated differently. In other words not normal way. It does not mean badly. Some people are sensitive and they take it negatively or they don't tolerate and they make allegations to mainstream culture or ethnic group with dominant culture. It is very sensitive issue and these feelings or biases haven't gone away even in America and Canada, with long history of democracy and secularism. We should understand these biases objectively rather than emotions.

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Someone Jan 31, 2016 06:35am

That's so true. Call your self Hindu in India and leftist media would run after you like rabid dogs. Pseudo seculars were in race to reach Dadri for photo session but none showed his face in Malda where Muslim mob burnt the police station and destroyed public and private property because of a rumor.

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Javed Jan 31, 2016 07:26am

Probably the only country where the majority is afraid of minority this can only happen is minority has been appeased at the cost of majority.

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R S Chakravarti Jan 31, 2016 08:04am

@K There are many people in India who studied in the US and could have got a green card easily but didn't. Don't think everyone wants to leave.

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Zafrani Jan 31, 2016 08:24am

Earlier Anupam Kher said some aching words to Aamir Khan which were not serious, but now what he says about himself is serious.

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Sbvin Jan 31, 2016 08:41am

You need to understand what Mr. Aamir was referring to when he shared opinions of his wife. And, Mr. Kher never said anything abt intolerance, actually neither of them have mentioned anything about intolerance.. please behave responsibly when you are aware that your voice will be heard. It's a very sensitive situation for our country right now, all this bullshitting in the media is inciting the youth of our country, who will eventually end up joining organisations such as ISIS... Each and every article in the media has huge repercussions on the youth, which we and our children have to face in the future. Pls stop interpreting statements, let the citizens interpret it themselves, they are smart enough...

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Only Real Indian Jan 31, 2016 08:51am

He is absolutely correct..! When convenient, people are dubbed as RSS agent by the so called seculars for their political game.

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KA Jan 31, 2016 09:54am

The country and the people who gave you honor and you have the gals to insult. It is better for you to look for that religion and the country which gives you solace and peace. I bet there is none. Good Luck

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Bob Jan 31, 2016 01:15pm

He is 100% true. Pity is all these years of Congress rule has eroded the culture of Hindus to such an extent that we feel guilty at every step. On the other hand Muslims and Christians enjoy full liberty, and nobody should point a finger at them, even though they are orthodox.

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Harish Motwani Jan 31, 2016 03:29pm

He is totally right. People in Pakistan may find it incredulous but a wide section of people believe it is only okay wear your religion on your sleeve if you are a Muslim or Christian. Any overt Hindu leanings makes them uncomfortable. The movie PK is an example. There are shortcomings in all religions, but the way PK attacked at the basic tenets of Hinduism, the same cannot be even thought of for other religions.

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Jawad Jan 31, 2016 10:34pm

Probably India is the only country in the world where majority are afraid of minority, and expressing their thoughts.

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Dr. Michael Dang Jan 31, 2016 11:48pm

Lost respect for this person after his inclination towards BJP and criticizing the already persecuted minority's voices.

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Dr. Michael Dang Jan 31, 2016 11:55pm

Is he saying that he is scared to call himself Hindu in India, where the Hindu makes up total of about 81% population?

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Dr. Michael Dang Jan 31, 2016 11:57pm

@Harish Motwani I read many PK was banned in RSS and Shiv Sena majority states and cities; and that there were riots by Hindu-nationalists.

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Dr. Michael Dang Feb 01, 2016 12:17am

His statement has double-meanings and it is aimed at both pleasing the intolerant society as well as attacking those artists, authors and scientists, who had earlier voiced their concern about rising tide of religious intolerance and violence in India. Obviously, the award he has received, is because of his frequent defending of the BJP government and their followers.

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Naxalite Feb 01, 2016 02:47am

@Adnan Mazher Khan But Indians do give weight to his statements if given in favor.

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ali Feb 01, 2016 08:27am

An. K.'s recent acts has severely downed his respect in my eyes as Pakistani..

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Syed Hasni Feb 01, 2016 10:04am

Amir Khan complains of intolerance towards Muslims. Anupam complains of intolerance towards Hindus. I am waiting a response from some Christian actor. The love for secuilarism should not make some one intolerant towards another religion. No one should leave his country because of intolerance rather should fight it out.

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