Mumbai: Veteran lyricist-writer Javed Akhtar on Thursday took to social media to condemn Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s act of pulling off a woman’s veil at a public function in Patna.
Akhtar said while he is against the traditional concept of ‘parda’, but what the Bihar CM did to the lady is unacceptable and he owes an unconditional apology to her.
“Everyone who knows me even in the most cursory manner knows how much I am against the traditional concept of Parda 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… Mr Nitish Kumar owes an unconditional apology to the lady,” Akhtar wrote on X.
Criticising an X user for accusing him of “selective outrage” on the issue, he wrote, “How dare you accuse me of selective outrage. If you don’t know how strongly I oppose the right wingers and regressive of my own community you are an imbecile,” challenging the user to name any film where he has shown a female character in ‘poor light’.
At a literary festival in 2025, when Akhtar spoke about being raised by women who never wore burkhas, a student asked him, “So according to you, a woman is less strong if she covers her face?”
The veteran replied, “Why should you be ashamed of your face? Why should you be? I believe that revealing clothes – whether men wear them or women – don’t look dignified.”
“But what makes her cover her face? What’s so vulgar, obscene and undignified about her face that’s covered. Why? This is peer pressure,” he added.
For the unversed, the incident, which kicked off a major political controversy and drew criticism from far and wide, including many West Asian countries, took place at CM’s secretariat ‘Samvad’, where appointment letters were being given to the appointees by Nitish.
When the woman came up for her appointment letter, Kumar pulled off her ‘naqab’, saying ‘what is this’.
