Priyanka under fire for lending support to Iran but staying silent about Muslim women in India

Mahnoor Irfan

On Saturday, actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas was attacked for extending her support to the Iranian women protesting against the death of a 22-year-old woman named Mahsa Amini. Amini was arrested by the ‘morality police’ in Tehran for not properly wearing a hijab as per mandatory hijab laws of the country and she was then killed by the police on 16 September 2022. Since then, dozens of young people have been killed and hundreds jailed in the ongoing protest against the Islamist regime.

Priyanka directed a message to Iranian protesters, stating that she admires their bravery in fighting for their rights. “Women in Iran and around the world are standing up and raising their voices, publicly cutting their hair and many other forms of protest for Mahsa Amini, whose young life was taken away so brutally by the Iranian Morality Police for wearing her hijab ‘improperly’. The voices that speak after ages of forced silence, will rightfully burst like a volcano! And they will not and MUST not be stemmed”, the message read.

 

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“I am in awe of your courage and your purpose. It is not easy to risk your life, literally, to challenge the patriarchal establishment and fight for your rights. But, you are courageous women doing this every day regardless of the cost to yourselves. To ensure that this movement will have a lasting effect, we must hear their call, understand the issues and then join in with our collective voices”, the 40-year-old actress further said.

Twitter calls out Chopra

However, netizens on Twitter and her followers on Instagram could not digest the fact that the actress was supporting the Iranian protest against the hijab and attacked her for allegedly not standing by her country amid the hijab row. “I appreciate this post but also point out your hypocrisy for not extending the same supportive voice to Hijabi women from your own country who are being harassed by your country’s government for their freedom of choice and being forbidden from taking exams because of their hijab. Can you stand up for them too? Can’t probably”, one of her Instagram users commented.

Another noted, “Priyanka Chopra has no qualms in posing with Narendra Modi and inviting him to her wedding reception despite BJP govt’s brutal crackdown on Hijab in India, but has the temerity to support anti-Hijab “protests” in faraway Iran.”

One user added, “Indian celebrities speaking about Iran will look the other way through this fascism and apartheid in their home country. This is a lawmaker in the Indian government asking for an economic boycott of Muslims. Will the likes of Priyanka Choprspeak up for Muslims in India?”

Another tweep commented, “Priyanka Chopra like many liberals wouldn’t dare speak on Hindutva and their oppression of Muslim women but will give support to women in Iran. Don’t take it as hypocrisy its condoning the atrocities on Muslim women.”

One user shared, “Has anyone heard Priyanka Chopra speak up on any pressing issue in India?” while another remarked, “Priyanka Chopra wants to stand up with women in Iran (rightly so) but not with women in France who r also denied the right of their bodily autonomy to wear hijab? Not with the ppl of Kashmir being brutally tortured raped murdered in her own country? Not with Palestine? Afghanistan?”

One Twitter user called out the French actors and Chopra for staying mum on the injustice women in their home country face. “If the likes of Priyanka Chopra can post on Instagram and Juliette Binoche can snip off her split ends in solidarity with women in Iran but are silent on the way Muslim women are treated in their home countries, it’s just a PR exercise.

Meanwhile, another one said that the actress had failed to stand by the women in India, France, and Germany who want to wear hijab. “Why didn’t you say anything when women were brutally treated in India, France, and Germany who wanted to wear hijab? It’s everyone’s own choice. Why just show support when they don’t want to wear hijab? Is it really about rights or agendas?”, the comment read?

 

A thread of similar opinions piled up her comment section box which read, “Start by standing with Muslim women of India being forced to take off their hijab. Smh. Your selective activism is…appalling”, and, “First speak for the women in your country who don’t have the freedom of choice!”.

 

Amini’s custodial death sparks anti-hijab protests across Iran

According to the reports, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was abducted by the ‘morality police’ in Tehran for not complying with the mandatory hijab laws of the country. Amini who was on a pleasure trip to Tehran had not covered her hair properly in the hijab. She was arrested by the police and then beaten in the police van while being taken to a detention centre, dubbed as a ‘re-education class’ for not conforming to the country’s mandatory hijab rules.

The police took the woman to the police station on Vozara Avenue where already dozens of other women were being held for not following the hijab rules. They beat the women and schooled them about the proper dress rules of the country. Mahsa was brutally beaten and taken to the hospital after she stopped responding in the custody. The doctors at the hospital stated that her heart continued to beat but her brain was no longer functioning. The woman breathed her last three days after the incident.

Her killing sparked massive protests in Iran, with women taking to the streets to up raise their voices against the regime. Several ladies including school-going girls burnt their hijabs in sympathy with the tragedy, while women all throughout the world trimmed their hair in the protest. Protests erupted in dozens of places around the country in the aftermath of her death after which the government retaliated with a harsh crackdown.

However, three weeks after the death of Amini, Iran’s Forensic Organisation revealed a report stating that the woman had died due to illness and not due to blows and beatings given to her in police custody. Earlier, the Police had also tried to cover up the matter claiming that Mahsa was already suffering from a heart problem and that she was never beaten in the custody.

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