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A BJP Leader Wants to Ban the Burqa Because it 'Helps Terrorists Hide Behind It'

The ruling party’s Uttar Pradesh leader Raghuraj Singh also claimed that burqas are bad because they were worn by the mythological demon king’s Ravana’s sister.
Shamani Joshi
Mumbai, IN
A BJP Leader wants to ban the burqa because terrorists hide behind it
Photo: FOTOKALDE fra Pixabay 

In this week’s edition of Indian politicians-saying-shit, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader dropped some comments about why burqas—the veil that covers the face and body worn by Muslim women—are not a good idea. Raghuraj Singh, who holds as much power as a minister of state in Uttar Pradesh, called for a burqa ban because apparently they’re a threat to national security.

“The burqa helps terrorists, thieves and anti-socials elements to hide behind it,” Singh said while speaking to reporters in Agra. “Burqa is a threat to national security and has to be banned to crush terrorism.” Not only did he stress that burqas originated from Arabic countries but he also claimed they were banned in countries like Sri Lanka, US and Canada after a series of bomb blasts. And if that wasn’t enough, Singh also managed to find unverified links between burqas and demons. According to him, the burqa was worn by the mythological demon king Ravana’s sister Surpanakha who—as the legend of Ramayana goes—was disfigured by Laxman, the brother of Hindu god Ram. “As her nose and ears were chopped, she used a burqa to hide her face,” he said, adding it was not necessary for humans. “In Mecca, a shivalinga was set up by Guru Shukracharya, who was the guru of devils, and from there the burqa tradition started."

The same leader who previously threatened to bury alive any student who raised slogans against UP’s chief minister Yogi Adityanath, ended his speech by insisting, “This is Hindustan and it will be run as per traditions of the Hindus.”

While he wasn’t too successful in adding burqas to the list of banned substances in India, he did manage to successfully piss off his fellow party members, who say they don’t condone such comments and have even served Singh a notice. Considering the controversy courted by this leader, we’re assuming he would need something to cover his own face from the shame of being publicly put down by his own party members.

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