India finds itself at an unprecedented crossroads. Never before India had found itself embroiled in a raging national debate over whether the country is tolerant or intolerant, specifically against its often-attacked Muslim minority. Never before India's secular credentials had been questioned nationally and internationally.

Scores of Indian intellectuals have raised the flag over the issue of intolerance, but the wrecker-in-chief for the Narendra Modi government has been Aamir Khan, one of the biggest Bollywood celebrities. The maker of the iconic film Lagaan and the hero of one of the biggest-ever Bollywood hits 3 Idiots has waded into the political debate over intolerance like no one else had done it before.

Khan's remark at a public function brought the roof down: "Kiran (his wife) and I have lived all our lives in India. For the first time, she said, should we move out of India? ... That's a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make to me. 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 that there is a sense of growing disquiet."

The debate over intolerance has become a political minefield. Intellectuals like historians, scientists, filmmakers and writers, who have warned against the alleged growing intolerance, are perceived to be anti-government. This growing tribe has been challenged by their counterparts sympathetic to the government.

The Modi government has been carpet bombed over the past couple of months by many celebrities in the above mentioned categories who have returned their government awards in protest against the growing atmosphere of intolerance in the country.

The intolerance debate is a godsend for opposition parties like the Congress Party whose political fortunes have remained tepid even 18 months after the elections.

Congress which has been trying to score brownie points over the government on anything and everything that comes its way.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who unsuccessfully challenged Modi in April-May 2014 general elections and who remains Modi's biggest political rival, said every dissent is looked upon as sedition by the Modi government.

His party colleague and a former junior foreign minister Shashi Tharoor has gone to the extent of saying that a cow, a sacred animal to Hindus, is safer in India today than a Muslim.

These are serious allegations and could thwart the inflow of crucial FDI inflows into India that are vital for a fast-developing country like India with a $2 trillion economy.

The Modi government, on the other hand, sees political conspiracy, summed up by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who has gone on record rubbishing the intolerance episode as "politics by other means."

The opposition naturally doesn't think so and wants to corner the government over the issue. Khan has provided the much-needed oxygen to the opposition bolstered by the open endorsement by another heavyweight Bollywood hero Shah Rukh Khan.

Though the Modi government has defended itself stoutly over the intolerance issue, it has kept naysayers at arms length. This is where the Modi government needs to be chastised and to listen to rather than dismissing complaints.

And the biggest concern is that Modi has not taken any action against his ministers and party men who have repeatedly made the remarks that fuel intolerance.

The author is a New Delhi-based independent journalist and a strategic analyst. bhootnath004@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Kishkindha