The problem with the candid confessions of Aamir Khan is that the debate has moved in directions he could not have intended it to. The revelation that his wife even suggested moving out of India because of alarm at rising incidents of intolerance sounds rather extreme. Besides, the idea of taking ‘flight’ in the face of stressful events is not heroic; it’s also over the top when there is a robust ideological ‘fight’ against hate speech and hate crimes. Fight or flight is, after all, the term used to describe the options and reactions of living creatures when confronted with a threat.

In all fairness to Aamir he never said he was leaving. But he should have known that while people understand Syrian refugees fleeing their lands, it’s hard for many to digest an adored Indian movie star and his wife, even in a weaker moment, feeling so hopeless that they should consider opting out of the country.

He should also have understood that when a figure like him chooses to crack open an already polarised debate, he’d better get every nuance in the script right. Or else the words could come bouncing back with charges of perpetuating a culture of victimhood. Aamir’s revelation has also provided fodder to those who project Muslims as lacking commitment to the country anyway. Yet again, the social media feeds of every individual with a Muslim name say, leave you terrorist, you Pakistani, you lover of ISIS *****.

This is not the space to start listing Muslim contribution to our civilisation or start naming the many individuals (including Aamir) who shape contemporary popular culture. But this is the space to say that India’s 172 million Muslims, rooted in the land, do not need to pass any loyalty test, especially one framed by those who hardly cover the country with any glory.

In 2006 painter M F Husain left the country in the face of death threats over his depiction of Hindu deities. His exhibitions were vandalised and legal cases of hurting religious sentiments were slapped on him. When he could not respond to a court summons, his immovable properties were attached and an arrest warrant issued. Husain died in London in 2011by which time he was a citizen of Qatar, even as he insisted India was his real home. His journey actually came to an end before BJP came to power with a simple majority.

At the individual level Aamir has not faced the kind of stressors that Husain did. The actor possibly wanted to make a strong statement about current trends and break his silence on what has come to be known as the intolerance debate. The script he went with, sadly, has only resulted in a spectacle of another public figure (who also happens to be Muslim) being subjected to abuse and becoming the subject of debate.

The writer is a political commentator and author.