Nitish Kumar Hijab Controversy Gives Omar Abdullah Ammunition to Take Aim at Mehbooba Mufti

Srinagar: Seizing upon the controversy surrounding Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s act of touching a Muslim woman’s hijab, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah launched a scathing political broadside, using the episode to reopen and sharpen his attack on PDP president Mehbooba Mufti.

Calling Nitish Kumar’s conduct “shameful” and “deeply regressive,” Omar said such behaviour was not an aberration but part of a recurring pattern that has surfaced in Indian politics before. Without mincing words, he drew a direct parallel with an earlier incident involving PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, accusing her of presiding over the public humiliation of a woman voter.

“We have seen this mindset earlier as well. During my election, a legitimate voter’s burqa was removed inside a polling station. People may have forgotten it, but I haven’t. What happened then was disgraceful, and what has happened now is no different,” Omar told reporters in Srinagar.

The Chief Minister asserted that no one holding constitutional authority has the right to violate a woman’s dignity in the name of protocol, symbolism or convenience. “If Nitish Kumar did not want to personally hand over the appointment letter, he could have stayed away. There was absolutely no need to touch her headscarf. Public humiliation of a woman is indefensible, under any circumstance,” he said.

Taking a swipe at Nitish Kumar’s political persona, Omar remarked that the incident had stripped away the carefully cultivated image of a secular and sensitive leader. “Slowly, the real face is coming out,” he added.