Aamir Khan, Indian film actor who is in news from past few days as he made statements on growing sense of “despondency” and “intolerance” in the country and also revealed that his wife asked to leave India. Also, the statements made by him going viral on the social media and most of the people including politicians and film fraternity criticised the statements made by him. However, few people supported Aamir.

Now, Aamir Khan responded to this controversy on intolerance and said that “I am Proud to be an Indian and do not need anyone’s permission nor the endorsement for that.”

Check out some of the Tweets of Aamir Khan:

BREAKING | India is my country, feel fortunate for being born here. Proud of being Indian, don’t need anyone’s permission for it: Aamir Khan

— NDTV (@ndtv) November 25, 2015

#AamirOnIntolerance | Neither I, nor my wife Kiran, have any intention of leaving India: @aamir_khan pic.twitter.com/8dEucTwUgv

— News18 (@CNNnews18) November 25, 2015

I stand by everything I have said: Aamir Khan on his comments about intolerance

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) November 25, 2015

Here is the full response of Aamir Khan:

First let me state categorically that neither I, nor my wife Kiran, have any intention of leaving the country. We never did, and nor would we like to in the future. Anyone implying the opposite has either not seen my interview or is deliberately trying to distort what I have said. India is my country, I love it, I feel fortunate for being born here, and this is where I am staying.Secondly, I stand by everything that I have said in my interview.

To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone’s permission nor the endorsement for that.

To all the people shouting obscenities at me for speaking my heart out, it saddens me to say you are only proving my point.

To all the people who have stood by me, thank you. We have to protect what this beautiful and unique country of ours really stands for. We have to protect its integrity, diversity, inclusiveness, its many languages, its culture, its history, its tolerance, it’s concept of ekantavada, it’s love, sensitivity and its emotional strength.

I would like to end my statement with a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, it’s a prayer really:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, Where knowledge is free, Where the world has not been broken up into fragments, by narrow domestic walls, Where words come out from the depth of truth, Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection, Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way, Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit, Where the mind is led forward by thee, Into ever-widening thought and action, Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

Jai Hind.

Aamir Khan.