Hijab row: Javed Akhtar hits out at Nitish Kumar, asks if he'd dare pull Hindu woman's ghoonghat

Javed Akhtar

Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar, who has strongly criticised Nitish Kumar foe pulling off a woman doctor's hijab at an event in Patna, has once again bashed the Bihar CM and called the act 'indecent'.

Renewing his attack against the JD(U) chief, Akhtar said that even if a person does not believe in religion or identifies themselves as an atheist, it doesn't give them the right to disrespect others.

"Maybe I'm an atheist, I don't believe in religion. It means I should go and pull people out of temples and mosques and churches? Should I do that? Or should anybody do it? You can oppose it, you can give your reason, and you should try your best to see to it that people think your way and understand what you intend, but you cannot do this. And particularly with a woman, not just a Muslim woman; a woman," Akhtar told India Today.

The veteran screenwriter-lyricist said that there are still several regions in India where Hindu women wear ghoonghats as a practice. "Will you go and pull up their ghoongat? How can you do that? How can anybody do that," he asked.

Last week a video clip of the hijab removal by the Bihar CM went viral on social media and kicked off a major political storm. The incident took place at 'Samvad', the CM's secretariat, where appointment letters were being given to the appointees by Nitish Kumar.

When the woman (Dr. Nusrat Parveen) arrived to collect her letter of appointment, Nitish Kumar saw her 'naqab', and said 'what is this'. He then removed the veil.

Javed Akhtar further said the Bihar CM knew he would face no consequences, adding that he would not have dared to lift the ghoonghat of a Hindu woman.

"Nitish Kumar should apologise if he has an iota of decency. He has misbehaved with a woman," he said.

The lyricist said the controversy is not about religion but about a woman's dignity and rights. "I want to know any decent person who has certain respect for women's dignity, whether this man is a Jew or a Parsi or a Hindu or a Buddhist or whoever he is. What would his reaction be if he was a decent person? So, it is not an issue of Hindu and Muslim," he added.