Aamir damaged India's brand identity, says DIPP secretary

Actor Aamir Khan damaged the “brand India” while being the brand ambassador of the celebrated ‘Incredible India’ campaign, a senior official has said.

Defending the exit of Khan from the campaign, Secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP),Amitabh Kant said the actor, by terming India an 'intolerantcountry’, worked against his role as that of a brand ambassador.

“A brand ambassador promotes a brand. People will come to India and tourist flow will increase only if the brand ambassador of 'Incredible India’ promotes the country as 'incredible’,” Kant told reporters on the sidelines of a convocation here on Monday.

Aamir Khan out of Incredible India

Film actor and producer Aamir Khan will cease to be the face of Incredible India, the signature advertising campaign for the tourism ministry to promote India globally, the government confirmed Wednesday late evening, after many twists and turns.

Khan, recipient of the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards, has been the ambassador for Incredible India since 2009, when the Congress-led government was in power. And, had continued since the current government took power in 2014.

The current decision is being attributed to Khan’s recent remark on "rising intolerance in India" but the government tried to distance itself from that controversy. The tourism ministry spoke in many voices through the day on the subject. In the evening, minister of state for aviation and tourism Mahesh Sharma confirmed the development through a tweet, often used as the official medium of communication by this government.