Mehbooba Mufti Slams Nitish Kumar Over Veil Incident, Asks if He Should Step Down
The PDP chief expressed shock at the viral video showing the Bihar CM pulling down a woman’s niqab on stage.
PDP President Mehbooba Mufti has sharply criticized Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after a video of him pulling a Muslim woman’s veil (niqab) went viral. The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir expressed deep shock at the incident and publicly questioned whether Kumar is fit to remain in office.
The controversy erupted on Tuesday following the circulation of a video from a felicitation ceremony. In the footage, Nitish Kumar is seen reaching out and pulling down the face veil of a Muslim woman standing near him on the stage.
“Shocking” Behavior
Taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Mufti stated that she has personally known and admired Nitish Kumar in the past, which made the incident even more disturbing to her.
“I was shocked to see him pull down a young Muslim woman’s naqaab,” Mufti wrote. She went on to question the motive behind the action, asking, “Does one attribute it to old age or the normalisation of humiliating Muslims publicly?”
Criticism of Bystanders
Mufti did not just blame the Chief Minister; she also criticized the reaction of those standing nearby. She noted that people watched the “horrific incident unfold as some form of entertainment,” calling their silence unsettling.
Concluding her statement, she suggested that the Bihar Chief Minister should consider resigning, asking, “Nitish Sahab, perhaps it’s time you step down?”
