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Omar lashes out at Nitish Kumar over ‘niqab’ incident
“Nowhere is it allowed (to pull down the veil of a Muslim woman). If the chief minister didn’t want to give her the order (himself) then he should have skipped her but humiliating her in front of everybody is absolutely wrong. Slowly the reality of Nitish Kumar is coming to the fore, who was earlier considered a secular and intelligent leader,” Abdullah told reporters.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday lashed out at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar after a video went viral, showing Kumar pulling down a Muslim woman doctor’s niqab during an official function in his home state.
Omar said that Kumar’s ‘real face’ was coming to the fore.
“Nowhere is it allowed (to pull down the veil of a Muslim woman). If the chief minister didn’t want to give her the order (himself) then he should have skipped her but humiliating her in front of everybody is absolutely wrong. Slowly the reality of Nitish Kumar is coming to the fore, who was earlier considered a secular and intelligent leader,” Abdullah told reporters.
He said that the incident was unfortunate and reminded people of an incident when Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti had allegedly made a woman pull down her burkha during an election.
“Here too, (we witnessed this) during elections many years back when Mehbooba Mufti had a legitimate voter’s burkha removed inside a polling station, it (Nitish Kumar’s act) is a continuation of that and as that was unfortunate then, it is unfortunate today as well,” he said.
Nitish Kumar was distributing appointment letters to AYUSH doctors when this happened. He apparently points towards the woman’s veil and then suddenly pulls it down.
Kumar triggered outrage after the video of the incident went viral. Political parties, religious and youth leaders in J&K launched a scathing attack and asked him to step down.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and J&K’s former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti urged Kumar to step down.
Senior CPM leader and Kulgam MLA MY Tarigami called Nitish’s act a violation of religious freedom and personal dignity.
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference (JKPC) leader and president of the All Jammu & Kashmir Shia Association, Molvi Imran Ansari, wrote to the Bihar CM, expressing grave concern and condemnation. Seeking apology, he added that Bihar is home to nearly 17% Muslim population.
Awami Ittehad Party chief spokesperson Inam Un Nabi stated, “Nitish Kumar’s behaviour was not just inappropriate, it was disgraceful, arrogant and shockingly shameless. He has humiliated a young doctor and disgraced his own chair.”
Former Bollywood actress, Zaira Wasim sought an apology from Nitish.
