Criticised for wearing 'sindoor', Nusrat Jahan shuts down hardliners with 'inclusive India' remark

Nusrat Jahan, the Tollywood actor and newly-elected Trinamool MP, has hit back at the hardliners for their ‘sindoor’ attack. The Basirhat lawmaker, who is being criticised by some Muslim clerics for wearing sindoor after marrying a Hindu man, shut down the fundamentalists and said that she belongs to ‘inclusive India.’ "I represent an inclusive India which is beyond the barriers of caste, creed and religion," Nusrat Jahan said in a post on her official Twitter handle.

Some clerics had issued a fatwa against Nusrat Jahan for her ‘un-Islamic’ appearance at the oath-taking ceremony in the Lok Sabha. "I still remain a Muslim and none should comment on what I choose to wear. Faith is beyond attire and is more about believing and practicing the invaluable doctrines of all religions," the actor further said in the Twitter post.

Her post also had a caption that was a sharp takedown. “Paying heed or reacting to comments made by hardliners of any religion only breeds hatred and violence, and history bears testimony to that..,” she said on micro-blogging site.

Nusrat Jahan won from West Bengal's Basirhat seat on a Trinamool Congress ticket by over 3.5 lakh votes. She is among the 17 women who were fielded by Mamata Banerjee's party in the April-May election.

Nusrat Jahan married city-based businessman Nikhil Jain in Turkey. She posted a picture of herself with her husband, Nikhil Jain, on Twitter Thursday, which she captioned thus: “Towards a happily ever after with Nikhil Jain." The wedding took place in the Turkish town of Bodrum in the presence of family and close friends. The wedding took place at the Sixth Sense Kapalankaya Hotel, 84 kilometres away from Bodrum. Ace designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee designed the wedding outfits for both Nusrat and Nikhil. Nusrat flew to Bodrum on June 15 and was accompanied by Mimi Chakraborty.

On May 27, Nusrat and Mimi had faced backlash for wearing western attire to Parliament. Nusrat captioned her picture as, "A new beginning...!! I thank @mamataofficial and people of my Basirhat constituency to have belief in me", following which she also faced similar wrath for breaking the preconceived notion of how female parliamentarian should dress up.