Only the rich and famous are talking of intolerance, says Anupam Kher

"This is a no debate. The rich and the famous are talking of intolerance. If you ask a man on the street, they won't talk about intolerance. All they want is food two times a day. Those with champagne in a glass are only talking about it. Are you living in India or America," Kher said at the Telegraph National Debate on intolerance here.

He said the biggest form of intolerance in the country was during the emergency when all those people who spoke against the government were jailed. Mocking Rahul Gandhi, he said, “Congress is the most tolerant in India because they are tolerating a person whom they want to project as a prime minister of this country".

"If you can tolerate that person then you can tolerate anything in the world. This is ridiculous. Did you hear the word intolerance before the last eight months? This has been marketed to take revenge for the defeat in the last elections," Kher said, adding, corruption is not being talked about in the last two years while in the last ten years corruption was the most talked about topic.

AICC spokesman Randeep Surjewala said in the last two years it has often appeared that intolerance is now part of the mainstream discourse. Bollywood actress Kajol said there are different types of intolerance and political intolerance is only one of them. "To make all social issues a political one is absolutely wrong. I also think that we have to work together to make a stronger and richer India and only then intolerance cease to exist. The debate on intolerance does not recognise this," she said.