Aamir's 'Incredible India' contract over, govt did not remove him: Mahesh Sharma

A day after reports erupted about Aamir Khan being removed as the brand ambassador of Incredible India, today Tourism Minister cleared the air on the same.

Clarifyiing the ministry’s stand, MoS, Tourism, Mahesh Sharma told a leading daily that it was purely a contractual matter with advertising agency McCann Worldgroup. The Rs 2.96-crore contract with the agency, which featured Khan in a film for the ministry, recently ended.

“Our agreement was with a media agency namely McCann. That was for a particular work. That work they have delivered to us. They have completed that project. Hence, that contract is now over,” said Sharma.

Aamir Khan had been at the centre of controversy since he had raised concern over the intolerant atmosphere in the country. In the backdrop of several communal incidents, Aamir had spoken about how unsafe he and his family feels in India.

The comment which he made in November had a ripple effect in social media, leaving many people wondering if this might affect his job as the brand ambassador of Incredible India.

The media reports of Wednesday were seen as the reaction of Aamir’s intolerance remarks. Though the Chairman & CEO of McCann Worldgroup India, Prasoon Joshi, too mentioned that their contract with the ministry is over.

“McCann had a contractual agreement with the Tourism Ministry for a social awareness campaign called ‘Atithi devo bhava’. Mr Aamir khan had graciously lent his support for the same. We have delivered the campaign to the Ministry.”