During an official ceremony in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reached out and pulled a Muslim woman’s hijab. The moment stunned those present. Two aides made a half-hearted attempt to intervene while others on stage laughed. No later explanation can soften what was plainly an act of public humiliation.
Reaction was swift and unusually broad. Even leaders allied with Hindu-nationalist parties described the act as disgraceful. The Congress demanded Kumar’s resignation, asking how Muslim women could feel safe under such a government. Poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar said the act was unacceptable by any measure. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Asaduddin Owaisi echoed the demand. Women’s and minority-rights groups warned that such behaviour reflects a growing comfort with public contempt.
Protest followed online and on the streets. Young activists carried placards saying the hijab is a matter of personal dignity, not state permission. Amnesty International’s India head Aakar Patel called the gesture an assault on the woman’s dignity, autonomy and identity as he warned that acts like this normalise discrimination and weaken equality and religious freedom. Meanwhile, in Islamabad, the Human Rights Council of Pakistan urged a UN-led inquiry and described the episode as an open attack on human dignity and religious liberty.
Inside India’s power circles, the response has, as expected, been defensive. Mr Kumar has mostly stayed silent. Party loyalists insist he has always supported minorities, while Bihar’s minority welfare minister claimed the chief minister only wanted to show the doctor’s face after her professional success. Supporters cite Mr Kumar’s record on women’s empowerment. That record offers little comfort to the woman he chose to humiliate.
There’s nothing new in this saga. Hindu hard-line groups have spent years agitating against the hijab. Karnataka’s classroom ban and calls for wider prohibitions have already strained social cohesion. The Supreme Court’s equivocation last year offered little clarity. The constitutional position is clear. India’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion and expression. No law allows a public official to forcibly unveil a woman. Such an act may violate provisions of India’s own penal code dealing with assault on a woman’s modesty and the promotion of religious enmity. Whether authorities choose to act will matter.
All eyes are now on India as it decides whether it still takes its secular claims seriously. If leaders expect the world to accept assurances about pluralism and tolerance, conduct must match words, not slogans. The demand is simple: a credible investigation, an apology to the victim, and a clear assurance that no office grants the right to violate another person’s faith or bodily autonomy. Anything less will confirm what many fear. The demonisation of Muslims is now embedded in New Delhi’s social fabric. *