New Delhi: Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi has taken party president Rahul Gandhi’s push for “soft Hindutva” to a new level on Twitter, lashing out at National Award-winner Zaira Wasim, 18, for citing her faith to quit Bollywood.
Questioning her decision, he trained his focus on Indian Muslims as a whole, scoffing at the idea that they considered acting “haram” while according legitimacy to a practice like nikah halala, where Muslim women have to consummate a second marriage before they can remarry their first husband.
हलाला जायज और एक्टिंग हराम,क्या ऐसे तरक्की करेगा हिंदुस्तान का मुसलमान ? #ZairaWasim
— Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) July 2, 2019
Any actors decision to quit films is personal. But giving it a religious colour is a grave disservice to those muslims who-
A. Are currently in the industry
B. Are aspiring to join it (especially women)
Just gives an opportunity to hardliners to label people as good/bad muslims.— Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) July 2, 2019
if this reasoning of #ZairaWasim is adopted generically, wht wl happen to pride of India #AamirKhan #ShahrukhKhan #SalmanKhan #ARRahman #JavedAkhtar And many others!
— Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) July 3, 2019
Wasim, who made her debut co-starring with Aamir Khan in the 2016 blockbuster Dangal, set off a furious debate this weekend when she announced her decision to quit acting.
In a detailed post on her Facebook page and other social media platforms, the Kashmiri-born star said the Indian film industry’s work environment “consistently interfered with my imaan (faith)” and threatened her relationship with her religion.
The Delhi temple vandalism
In other Twitter posts, Singhvi has also been questioning the Modi government for not taking action against the vandals who attacked a temple in Delhi following a row over parking Sunday night.
Any government would have taken quick action in the face of the vandalized temple by unscrupulous elements to preserve communal harmony & punish perpetrators. The exception here can be seen with Delhi Police & HM under "So called majority Leadership" of Amit Shah & BJP.
— Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) July 2, 2019
Day 2 of the temple incident and no action yet by Home Minister, Delhi Police under the BJP rules Centre. We know the ruling party doesn't care about minorities but does it also not care for the sentiments of majority?
— Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) July 3, 2019
‘Soft Hindutva’
Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Narendra Modi, pulled off a spectacular victory in 2014, the Congress has been on a mission to reform its image.
Accused by the BJP of minority appeasement at the cost of Hindus, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, described by a party spokesperson as a “janeu-dhaari Brahmin”, made temple runs a key part of his campaigns for assembly elections and the Lok Sabha polls.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor even went to the extent of saying that Gandhi’s temple trips were meant to “neutralise” the BJP’s Hindutva.
“A conversation about Hinduism is unavoidable in India at present,” he told ThePrint in January 2018. “Why would we want to cede and abdicate that space to someone else? There are many versions of Hinduism.”
Also read: Why Rahul Gandhi will fall off the tightrope between Hindu and Hindutva