When newly appointed doctor Nusrat Parveen stepped onto the stage to receive a congratulatory letter from Bihar state’s chief minister Nitish Kumar, something shocking happened. He reached out and pulled down Parveen’s niqab (face veil) as cameras flashed and the crowd stared.
This brief moment, on 15 December, drew widespread disgust but it also attracted support and appreciation from the Hindu right wing, which is particularly anti-Muslim in its ideology.1 Kumar, an ally of the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, never apologized.
