Actor Aamir Khan has expressed alarm over rising communalism and endorsed growing protests by over 50 writers, academics and scientists who have returned top government awards.

“When I chat with Kiran at home, she says ‘Should we move out of India?’ That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day. That does indicate this sense of growing disquiet, growing despondency, apart from alarm,” the 50-year-old had said.

Aamir is the second prominent Bollywood actor after Shah Rukh Khan to speak out against the alleged growing intolerance in the country, including the mob lynching of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh over beef consumption rumours and the killing of Dalit children in Faridabad. Activists and the Opposition allege ruling party members were deliberately fanning communal passions for electoral benefit.