AIMIM leader and former MP Imtiaz Jaleel sparked a major controversy during a rally in Jalna on Friday, issuing a blunt warning in response to the recent hijab row involving Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. Addressing the crowd, Jaleel declared that he would "cut off the hand" of anyone who touches a Muslim woman with ill intent. His comments follow a highly criticised remark by Uttar Pradesh Minister Sanjay Nishad, who had questioned what might have happened if the Bihar CM had "touched her somewhere else" after Kumar was seen pulling down a woman’s hijab.
While Nishad later claimed his words were misinterpreted, Jaleel used the stage to frame the incident as a broader failure of India's "so-called secular parties." He argued that these parties are quick to embrace criminals and local goons but treat the Muslim community as "untouchable" when it comes to actual leadership and representation. "They don't want Muslims to emerge as leaders," Jaleel told the gathering, accusing his political rivals of branding AIMIM as communal simply to keep the community sidelined.
The rally, held to drum up support for 17 AIMIM candidates ahead of the January 15 municipal elections, also saw Jaleel taking jabs at the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra. He specifically mocked Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Shirsat’s request to freeze the AIMIM’s 'kite' symbol because the election coincides with the Makar Sankranti festival. Jaleel laughed off the demand, jokingly suggesting that if symbols are an issue during holidays, then BJP and Shiv Sena leaders should be banned from wearing "watches" for the next month— a dig at the 'Clock' symbol of their ally, the NCP.
It was a rhetoric that has pointedly brought out the growing chasm between the AIMIM and the so-called mainstream secular fronts as the campaign heats up. Embracing high-voltage emotional issues like the hijab controversy, he is clearly trying to present his party as the lone protector of Muslim identity against what he describes as the "communalism" of ostensibly neutral parties.
Also read: Hijab row: Iltija Mufti files complaint against Bihar CM
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