The shoot done for Paper magazine which pays homage to Burt Reynolds' iconic 1972 shoot for Cosmopolitan magazine, saw the 37 year old Bollywood actor go nude for the camera.
The photoshoot has left internet divided and questioned the ideologies that govern the society. While some couldn't stop praising the actor in his work, others have questioned the perceptive stance of the onlookers.
Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Abu Asim Azmi joined the latter bandwagon giving the photoshoot a political turn when he compared the nude photoshoot and the liberal understanding of the same with ideologies that consider wearing of hijab by Muslim women under Islamic norms considered ‘oppressive’ and ‘discriminatory’.
“If exhibiting your bare body is called art and freedom, then, why, on the other hand, if a girl wants to cover her body with the hijab according to her culture, it is termed as oppression and religious discrimination," Azmi tweeted in Hindi on Friday.
“What kind of society do we want? If making your nude photos public is freedom, then why wearing of hijab is not?" the president of SP's Maharashtra unit added.
The 66-year old Abu Asim Azmi's tweet reiterated the Hijab controversy that erupted in Karnataka earlier this year. At the beginning of January 2022, a dispute pertaining to school uniforms was reported in the Indian state of Karnataka, when some Muslim students of a junior college who wanted to wear hijab to classes were denied entry on the grounds that it was a violation of the college's uniform policy.
This led to Hindu students to protest. Following many protest, the Karnataka High Court upheld the ban on hijab by the educational institutes on 15 March 2022. The court ruled that hijab is not an essential religious practice under Islam and, hence, it is not protected by the Article 25 of the constitution setting out the fundamental right to practice one's religion.
This was challenged in the Karnataka high court; after multiple hearings, the high court, on March 15, refused to overturn the state government's order.
