‘Had a Muslim man lifted a Hindu woman’s veil…’: Omar Abdullah amid hijab row involving Nitish Kumar

Amid the ongoing row over Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s viral video showing him pulling down a woman doctor’s veil, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said the BJP would have caused a huge uproar if the same happened with a Hindu woman.

His remarks came as several leaders came out in the JD(U) leader’s support, with union minister Giriraj Singh saying that he did nothing wrong.

Reacting to Giriraj Singh’s remarks, Abdullah said, “This is exactly what we can expect from the BJP. If it had been a Hindu woman from Rajasthan or Haryana, wearing a veil, and I had removed it, would the BJP have said the same thing?  Imagine the uproar if a Muslim leader had removed the veil of a Hindu woman. But now, because it was a Muslim woman doctor, the BJP's reaction is different. What else can we expect from them?”

The incident, a video clip of which has been circulated widely and sparked a major political row, took place at the chief minister’s secretariat in Patna when Ayush doctors had gathered to receive their letters of appointment.