Bollywood star Aamir Khan under fire over China, Turkey links
27 August, 2020
Muslim Bollywood star Aamir Khan is definitely a hate figure for India's Hindu far-right, but now they have a new type of attack -- his massive popularity in China.
Khan, 55, is a brand ambassador for Chinese smartphone maker Vivo, and can be major draw on the mainland with films such as for example Dangal (2016). He even has 1.16 million followers on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo.
But this week the hardline Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Hindu group put the actor on the cover of its magazine, calling him "The Dragon's favorite Khan", a mention of China.
Also criticizing Khan's ties with Turkey -- which includes slammed India over Kashmir -- this article said he was "forging friendships with the ones that are believed enemies of India".
"Aamir seems to be the favourite of the Chinese Communist Party system and the actual fact his movies are doing this well can be an indication that he is being promoted by Chinese state," the editor of the weekly Hitesh Shankar told a news website.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has fanned growing hostility to China carrying out a deadly clash on the disputed Himalayan border in June.
The militaristic RSS is the ideological parent of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the prime minister -- a devout Hindu -- is a lifelong member.
Since Modi found power in 2014, the BJP government has enacted numerous policies which may have raised fears of marginalization among India 200-million-strong Muslim minority.
Bollywood includes a long tradition of Muslim celebrities and the so-called three Khans -- Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh -- have dominated box offices going back three decades.
But Aamir Khan sticks out as a result of his outspokenness -- although he has also been photographed meeting Modi.
He is among Bollywood's most bankable leading men and has appeared in a large number of films -- often playing Hindu or Sikh heroes. He comes with an enormous fan club, which includes millions of Hindus.
Khan was the mark of a vicious online campaign in 2015 and forced out of several advertisement campaigns after he said his wife feared for the safety of their children in India.
At that time India was reeling under a climate of insecurity following the lynching of a Muslim man for allegedly eating beef, which many Hindus believe is sacrilegious.
Khan attracted further ire when he met Emine Erdogan, the wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a recent film shoot in Turkey.
Erdogan has backed Pakistan over Kashmir, a territory that both India and Pakistan claim as its but rule in parts.
China is in charge of some elements of the mountainous Ladakh region.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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