Uproar in India over Bihar chief minister pulling down Muslim woman’s hijab 

A video showing a top minister pulling down the hijab of a Muslim woman during a government event has caused widespread outrage and condemnation across India.

Nitish Kumar, chief minister of the eastern state of Bihar, was seen removing the veil of the woman when she was being handed an appointment letter as a traditional and alternative medicine doctor in the capital Patna on Monday.

In a video that soon went viral on social media, Kumar, holding an official document in hand and flanked by a few other officials, points to what the doctor was wearing and asks her to remove it.

Before she could react, Kumar stretches his hand and pulls her hijab down, exposing her face, before a minister standing next to him could stop him, while others present on stage laugh.

Kumar, 74, has been Bihar’s chief minister for most of the past two decades. He is a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Last month, their alliance won the Bihar legislative assembly election, in which the BJP emerged as the single largest party for the first time.

The video was first posted on X by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), a political party opposed to the Modi-Kumar coalition.

“What has happened to Nitish ji [“ji” is an honorific in Hindi]? Has his mental condition completely deteriorated, or has Nitish ‘Babu’ [another Hindi honorific] now become 100 percent Sanghi?” the RJD asked in its post.

Sanghi refers to a person affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a 100-year-old secretive far-right organisation that aims to turn a constitutionally secular India into an ethnic Hindu state. Modi and most other BJP leaders are lifetime members of the RSS, which is the ideological fountainhead of what is referred to as the Sangh Parivar (or Sangh Family), with hundreds of Hindu organisations working under its umbrella.

The BJP and its allies have long campaigned against the use of hijab by Muslim women. In 2022, the then-BJP government in the southern state of Karnataka banned hijab in classrooms, triggering a huge protest by the Muslim community. Later that year, a two-judge Supreme Court bench delivered a split verdict in the case, which meant the debate and politics over hijab continued in the country of 200 million Muslims. Several Hindu groups have demanded a nationwide ban on hijab.

Nearly 18 percent of Bihar’s 127 million residents are Muslim.

Opposition parties and Muslim groups have condemned Kumar’s action and demanded his resignation.

“This is Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. A female doctor had come to collect her appointment letter, and Nitish Kumar pulled off her hijab. A man occupying the highest position in Bihar is openly indulging in such a vile act. Think about it – how safe will women be in the state? Nitish Kumar should immediately resign for this disgusting behaviour,” the main opposition Congress party posted on X.

On Wednesday, members of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a political party representing Muslims and other minorities, held a protest in Mumbai and demanded that criminal charges be filed against Kumar.

“A Muslim woman has been dishonoured,” shouted a protesting woman as she was dragged away by a group of police officers, according to a report by the Press Trust of India news agency. “Nitish Kumar should resign,” said another member there, wearing a hijab.

Zaira Wasim, a former actor from Indian-administered Kashmir, demanded an “unconditional apology” from Kumar. “A woman’s dignity and modesty are not props to toy with,” she posted on X. “Power does not grant permission to violate boundaries.”

Even the foreign minister of neighbouring Pakistan spoke out, calling the incident “shameful” and “extremely disturbing”.

“Such acts underscore the imperative to safeguard minority rights and to address the troubling rise of Islamophobia. Respect for women and religious beliefs must remain fundamental and non-negotiable principles in every society,” Ishaq Dar posted on X on Wednesday.

Kumar has not yet responded to the criticism. On Thursday, his party, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), posted on X that the chief minister has always “supported the minorities” during his tenure.

“The minorities are safe and secure in the Nitish government,” the party wrote, without referring to Monday’s incident. Al Jazeera reached out to Kumar’s office and a JD-U spokesperson, but did not get any response.

In a statement emailed to Al Jazeera, however, Aakar Patel, India head of rights group Amnesty International, said Kumar’s act was “an assault on this woman’s dignity, autonomy, and identity”.

“When a public official forcibly pulls down a woman’s hijab, it sends a message to the general public that this behaviour is acceptable. No one has the right to police a woman’s faith or clothing,” he said.

“Such actions deepen fear, normalise discrimination, and erode the very foundations of equality and freedom of religion. This violation demands unequivocal condemnation and accountability. Urgent steps must be taken to ensure that no woman is subjected to such degrading treatment.”