Last Updated: November 28, 2023, 11:34 IST
A video of the show has gone viral, where women in burqa can be seen confidently walking down the ramp and greeting the audience with ‘adaab’.
Claiming that the burqa is ‘not an item for fashion display’, Qasmi said that such an act targets a specific religion, potentially hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community.
A fashion show led by Muslim women at an Uttar Pradesh college has reportedly angered Islamic organisations, who objected to burqa being shown as an “item for fashion display”. They also questioned the education system and warned the college of consequences if similar shows happen in future.
The fashion show, ‘Splash 2023’, was organised in Muzaffarnagar’s Shriram Group of Colleges on Sunday night, where former Bollywood actress Mandakini and TV actor Radhika Gautam were the chief guests.
A video of the show has gone viral, where women in burqa can be seen confidently walking down the ramp and greeting the audience with ‘adaab‘.
Catwalk in burqa in Shriram College, Muzaffarnagar!! Jamiat Ulema said – “Burqa is not a part of fashion, it is used for curtain. College students should not do this in future.” pic.twitter.com/fjeWgel6SE
— T R A N S L A T O R (@enghinditweets) November 27, 2023
While the organisers of the show said that it was a platform for Muslim women to show their creative side, Jamiat Ulama district convener Maulana Mukarram Qasmi expressed strong objection to it.
Claiming that the burqa is “not an item for fashion display”, Qasmi said that such an act targets a specific religion, potentially hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community. He warned that if similar events are organised in the future, legal action would be taken.
A report in India Today quoted Alina, one of the participating students, as saying that they wanted to showcase that the burqa could also be fashionable and not just a garment to be worn at home.
She explained that since she couldn’t take part in the kind of fashion show where short dresses are worn, she wanted to do something for the women of the Muslim community, the report stated.
Manoj, a teacher at Shri Ram College, supported the students’ initiative. He was quoted as saying that hijab or burqa can boost confidence among Muslim women and that there are growing opportunities in fashion related to these garments globally.
“They are very hardworking students. One of them thought that they should do something creative for Muslim women and show that even hijabs can be fashionable,” he told reporters.
The report stated that Jamiat-e-Ulema has said that this fashion show hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims. “If you are doing a fashion show then do it but do not target any one religion.”
Meanwhile, actress Mandakini appreciated the ‘Beti Bachcho, Beti Padhao’ theme of the show, and said that girls should be educated and empowered. She requested parents to let women choose whatever field they want to pursue, and “let families support and inspire them”.
In a separate event, the former Bollywood actress urged people to curb “honour killing”. She said that writer Liaquat Mansoori gifted her the novel, ‘Mujhe Udne Do’, and told her that the novel was based on incidents of murders committed by family members. She said that many films have also been made on the incidents on honour killing, and the society as a whole must come forward to stop it.
Old Incident When Burqa-clad Woman was Threatened with ‘Beheading’
Earlier, in June, a video of woman at an alcohol shop in Muzaffarnagar had gone viral. She was apparently stopped by three miscreants from buying liquor, and warned of “consequences”, if she tried to do it again.
A passerby who shot the video, later uploaded the two-minute clip online. In the video, one of the men could be heard saying in a threatening tone, “Why are you buying alcohol here, you don’t know me, I’ve been to prison many times… I will behead you right now.” The other two soon joined in and let the woman go after giving her a “warning”.
The police later arrested three people — Baku alias Shahanawaz, 40, Adil Ahmed, 30, and his brother Sajid Ahmed, 35 — for threating to “behead” the woman.