Kashmir parties slam Bihar CM Nitish Kumar over removing veil of a female doctor

Several political parties in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) condemned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over removing the veil of a Muslim doctor during an official function in Bihar.  

Former J&K Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said if it was time for Mr. Kumar to step down. “Having personally known and admired Nitish ji, I was shocked to see him pull down a young Muslim woman’s naqaab (veil),” Ms. Mufti said.

She said does one attribute it to old age or the normalisation of humiliating Muslims publicly. “The fact that people around him watched this horrific incident unfold as some form of an entertainment is even more unsettling. Nitish Sahab perhaps it’s time you step down?” Ms. Mufti said.

Ms. Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti also joined the condemnation. “No one has the right to interfere with a woman’s dignity in public. Mr. Kumar’s action reflected a lack of respect for personal and religious choices. Power does not give anyone the authority to humiliate or mock others,” Ms. Mufti said.

Ruling National Conference (NC) leader and Minister Sakina Ittoo termed Mr. Kumar’s act of publicly pulling at a Muslim woman’s naqab (face veil) as “deeply disturbing and indefensible”. 

“Such a public insult violates a woman’s dignity, faith, and personal autonomy. No constitutional office grants license to humiliate women or target religious identity. This conduct is unacceptable and must be unequivocally condemned. An unconditional apology is owed,” Ms. Ittoo said.

Imran Ansari, general secretary of J&K Peoples Conference and also president of the All J&K Shia Association, wrote a letter to the Bihar Chief Minister over the incident. 

“The act was deeply hurtful, unacceptable, and in clear violation of the democratic and constitutional values of India. Such conduct does not befit a person holding a high constitutional office and sends a disturbing message to minority communities across the country,” Mr. Ansari’s letter read.

Mr. Ansari said Islam accords dignity and empowerment to women and the “hijab is a religious obligation rooted in faith, modesty, and self-respect”. “The woman involved was a doctor a symbol of education, service, and empowerment and that subjecting her to public humiliation only deepens the gravity of the incident,” he added. He sought an “unconditional public apology” from Mr. Kumar.

Awami Ittehad Party spokesperson Inam Un Nabi such an act “strips the office of Chief Minister of any moral credibility left.” “Mr. Kumar’s behaviour was not just inappropriate, it was disgraceful, arrogant and shockingly shameless. He has humiliated a young doctor and disgraced his own chair,” Mr. Nabi said.

Zaira Wasim, a former Bollywood actor from Kashmir, also took an exception to Mr. Kumar’s action. “A woman’s dignity and modesty are not props to toy with. Least of all on a public stage. As a Muslim woman, watching another woman’s niqab being pulled at so casually, accompanied by that nonchalant smile, was so infuriating. Power does not grant permission to violate boundaries. Mr. Kumar owes that woman an unconditional apology,” Ms. Wasim said.