The Tolerance Mirage

Bollywood actor and self-described perfectionist, Aamir Khan recently opened up the proverbial can of worms when he implied that that he and his wife were contemplating leaving India due to the prevailing air of "intolerance" in the country (air quotes).

He then tried to stuff the worms back inside the can (unsuccessfully) while insisting that the can needed to be opened. Movie stars in general can never be accused of being particularly intelligent (or coherent for that matter), but funnily enough, Aamir was spot on, at least in part, and certainly not the part that he intended.

India is intolerant. No question about it. But first, the good stuff.  

There's a lot to admire about India:

• Its steadfast commitment to democracy despite the mind-boggling diversity of languages, religions, cultures and races,  and without any prejudice (Muslim presidents, female prime ministers, transgender ministers, etc. the list is long) 
• Its admirable willingness to invest in high-tech industries, despite the ill-advised exhortations of condescending Western powers to focus exclusively on poverty-eradication
• Its forbearance in dealing with terrorist-harboring states like Pakistan and Bangladesh, while having enough fire-power to wipe them of the face of the earth
• Providing universal education and affordable healthcare to all of its citizens

But there's also lots to criticize:

 Female infanticide and a general medieval attitude towards women

• An unhealthy obsession with religion and dogmatic orthodox attitudes
• Hero-worship, which led to the same incompetent prime minister (Nehru) and corrupt political party (Congress) being elected to power repeatedly
• Pandering to minorities for votes, leading to sops and concessions that over-benefited the same sub-section of the minority population, while depriving the truly downtrodden (the economically backward) of the help they needed

But by far the biggest problem India has is its intolerance, but probably not in the way that Aamir intended:

• Intolerance to over-hauling its outdated paternal family structure, which prevents children from marrying outside of their community
• Intolerance towards true secularism, i.e. atheists and humanists. Anything anti-Hindu passes for secularism in India
• Intolerance towards voices calling for implementing a Uniform Civil code 
• Intolerance towards religious conversion to Hinduism. Conversions from Hinduism to other religions is allowed, even encouraged 
• Intolerance towards any media outlets that dares to give a soap-box to contrarian viewpoints, such as people who raise concerns due to the rise of religious extremism (perpetuating the lie that terrorism has no religion, and even if it does, it is saffron-colored) 
• Intolerance towards any news stories that highlight communal violence perpetrated by low castes (debunking the myth that all communal violence is perpetrated by high castes) 
• Lastly, (and this will hit close to Aamir and his Bollywood brethren) intolerance towards prosecuting criminals such as Salman Khan (manslaughter), Sanjay Dutt (possession of illegal weapons and alliances with terrorists). 

Aamir Khan and his wife are absolutely spot-on. All Indians like him who are concerned about the rising intolerance in India should consider leaving the country.

But they won't. And the reason is obvious.

In no other country can they lead a life approaching the luxury they get in India. 

In no other country can a people make a living from publishing the toilet-paper masquerading as literature churned out by Arundhati Roy & Vikram Seth or via the shrill cacophony pawned off as journalism by Prannoy Roy and Barkha Dutt.

And certainly not a person like Aamir Khan, who will find that other countries are highly intolerant and downright allergic to the bilge that passes for motion pictures in Bollywood.