Rohit Kumar
NEW DELHI, Dec 18: Amid a storm of criticism from the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United has been struggling to defend him on the “hijab row” which has received condemnation from many quarters once again raising questions about the mental health of the 74-year old leader to lead a state.
The JD(U) has been insisting that allegations of age and senility heaped on the 74-year-old were just political tools to attack the 10-time Chief Minister who retained power with a massive mandate a month ago.
Kumar’s party colleague and the Minority Welfare Minister Zama Khan said, “Nitish-ji just showed love to a Muslim daughter. He wanted society to see the face of the girl after she became successful in life.” Accusing the Opposition and Muslim leaders of trying to defame the Chief Minister, Khan said those criticizing him must know that he gives daughters the utmost respect.
The incident took place at Samvad, the CM’s secretariat, where appointment letters were given away to more than 1,200 AYUSH doctors on Monday. According to the CMO, the appointees included 685 Ayurveda doctors, while 393 were Homoeopaths and 205 practiced the Unani system of medicine. Out of them, 10 appointees were handed over job letters by the CM, while the rest got those online.
When it was the turn of Nusrat Parveen, who had turned up wearing a hijab across her face, the 75-year-old CM frowned and exclaimed, “What is this?” The chief minister, who stood atop a raised platform, then bent down and pulled the hijab down. The flustered appointee was, thereafter, hastily pulled aside by an official present on the occasion, while Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, who stood beside the CM, was seen tugging at the latter’s sleeve, in an apparent bid to restrain him.
The video sparked a massive row, with opposition parties demanding Kumar’s resignation. Leaders of Nitish Kumar’s JDU and its ally BJP, downplayed the uproar and cited Nitish Kumar’s contributions to women’s empowerment. The shocked lady doctor was identified as Nusrat Parveen.
The Union minister Giriraj Singh, who has emerged as the newest champion of Nitish Kumar in the hijab row, had a message for Nusrat Parveen. Singh had staunchly defended Kumar on Wednesday saying he has done nothing wrong, since identity confirmation was as much a part of getting a job as voting. “Nitish Kumar has done nothing wrong,” Singh reiterated on Thursday.
“If anyone goes to take an appointment letter, should they not show their face? Is this an Islamic nation? Nitish ji was acting as a guardian… If you go to take your passport, or go to the airport, do you not show your face? You talk about Pakistan and ‘Englishtan’. This is India and only Indian laws will work here. Nitish Kumar did nothing wrong,” he told journalists. Asked what if the girl had refused to take the job, Singh shot back, “If he refuses then he will go to hell. (She can refuse or go to hell)” before stalking off.
The backlash has already started. “Only phenyl will work to clean this man’s filthy mouth. You dare not touch the hijabs & naqabs of our Muslim mothers & sisters. Otherwise we Muslim women will set you right by teaching you a lesson you & your ilk will remember for all times to come,” PDP’s Iltija Mufti, daughter of J&K’s former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, posted on X, formerly Twitter.
NDA ally Nishad party leader and Uttar Pradesh minister Sanjay Nishad, however, provoked another storm with his version of the defence. Speaking to a local news channel, Nishad questioned what would have happened if Kumar had “touched somewhere else.”
“Arey, he is also a man, he should not wait. If you want to face it then it will happen…where else you want, what will happen.” (He is a man after all. One should not hound him like this. If touching the ‘hijab’ caused such an uproar, what would have happened if he had touched elsewhere),” he had commented.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, among the first to criticize his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar over the hijab row, has hit his political rival Mehbooba Mufti with a throwback. Alleging that Nitish Kumar is “showing his true colours” as an ally of a communal party by pulling off a woman doctor’s veil, Abdullah gave a reminder that it was Mufti who started the trend.
“We have seen such incidents earlier as well here. During my election, people may have forgotten that Mehbooba Mufti got a legitimate voter’s burqa removed inside a polling station. This is a continuation of the same mindset. That was unfortunate and equally shameful, and so is this incident,” Abdullah said on the sidelines of a public event in Srinagar on Wednesday. During the election in April 2004, Mufti had lifted a woman’s veil. When criticized for it, she had said she was trying to establish the voter’s identity, since the veil is often used as a prop to cast bogus votes.
“If the (Bihar) chief minister did not want to hand over the order to her (Muslim woman), they could have kept her aside. However, to humiliate her like this is totally wrong,” Abdullah said.
Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party was sarcastic. “They should have addressed Modi Sahab, as he is an ally partner, and asked him to withdraw support from this government. Instead, he is criticizing Mehbooba Mufti and others… If Mehbooba Mufti attempted to verify someone’s voter ID, comparing it with Nitish Kumar’s actions reflects his (Abdullah’s) intent,” said PDP spokesperson Mohit Bhan.
Mehbooba Mufti, a former Chief Minister of J&K, has strongly criticized Nitish Kumar over the hijab incident. “Having personally known & admired Nitish ji I was shocked to see him pull down a young Muslim woman’s naqab. Does one attribute it to old age or the normalization of humiliating Muslims publicly,” she had posted on
Poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar, who is known for his strong views against the concept of pardah or veil, said though he strongly opposes hijab, he could not accept Nitish Kumar’s act of removing a Muslim doctor’s veil by “any stretch of imagination.” Javed Akhtar wrote in his tweet on Thursday, “Everyone who knows me even in the most cursory manner knows how much I am against the traditional concept of Pardah but it doesn’t mean that by any stretch of imagination I can accept what Mr Nitish Kumar has done to a Muslim lady doctor. I condemn it in very strong words. Mr Nitish Kumar owes an unconditional apology to the lady.”
Earlier, the Congress termed Kumar’s act “vile” and said he should resign. RJD spokesperson Ejaz Ahmad said Kumar pulling down the hijab shows the JDU-BJP coalition’s attitude towards women. Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM said Nitish Kumar’s act is intolerable and he should apologize immediately. The Bihar Minority Welfare Minister while defending him quipped, “Nitish Kumar wanted society to see the face of the girl after she became successful in life.”
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