Last Updated:December 22, 2025, 18:23 IST

SP’s Sumaiya Rana said that everyone in India lives in peace and harmony, and Indians were capable of resolving their issues, with no need for neighbouring countries to interfere

SP leader Sumaiya Rana (extreme right) had filed an FIR on Nitish Kumar’s actions. (File/ANI)

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Sumaiya Rana, who had objected to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s pulling down of a woman’s hijab and even filed a First Information Report (FIR), turned down a request from a Pakistani news channel for an interview on the issue.

The channel had attempted to link the controversy to the alleged miserable condition of Muslims in India.

The daughter of renowned poet Munawwar Rana, she responded by reciting a couplet by Urdu poet Jigar Moradabadi: “Najar ka teer jigar mein rahe to achcha hai, Ghar ki baat ghar mein rahe to achcha hai.“

The lines mean: “Better if the arrow of the gaze remains lodged in the heart; Better if matters of the home stay within the home.”

Rana said that everyone in India lives in peace and harmony, and that Indians are capable of resolving their issues among themselves, with no need for neighbouring countries to interfere.

The hijab controversy

Kumar recently attended a public event in which he distributed appointment letters to newly appointed AYUSH doctors. In the clip which went viral, when a Muslim woman doctor, Busrat Parveen, wearing a hijab/naqab approached him, Kumar reportedly pointed to her hijab asking, “What is this?” He then pulled it down, revealing her face. This sparked a major political and social backlash, with critics saying it is a violation of personal dignity, religious freedom and women’s autonomy.

Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Sanjay Nishad’s remarks, which defended Kumar and were more derogatory towards women, further added to the controversy.

Rana’s role

Speaking about the incident, Rana had told news agency ANI that the incident set a dangerous precedent. She added that if a person who holds an important constitutional position behaves in such a manner, then it encourages his (Nitish Kumar) colleagues to engage in similar activities.

Rana had on Friday alleged that she has been placed under house arrest, a claim that the police denied.

Rana, national vice-president of the SP women’s wing, had said she had approached the Kaiserbagh police on December 16 seeking registration of an FIR over alleged objectionable acts and remarks involving Nitish Kumar and Uttar Pradesh minister Sanjay Nishad, but no case has been registered so far.

“The Kaiserbagh police are not registering an FIR. From yesterday till now, I am under house arrest,” she alleged, adding that the affected woman doctor was deeply hurt and had left her job and gone to Kolkata.

Rana said that as a member of the same community and someone who wears a hijab, she feels personally aggrieved.

On the police’s denial of any house arrest, she said CCTV footage shows police personnel stationed outside her residence since Wednesday. “They are detaining me, but are not officially acknowledging it. That amounts to illegal confinement,” she alleged.

With PTI, ANI inputs

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