- Maulana Sajid Rashidi criticised Dimple Yadav's attire during her visit to a mosque in Uttar Pradesh
- Rashidi said mosque decorum requires covering the head, which Yadav ignored
- He claimed his comments were not objectionable
Cleric Maulana Sajid Rashidi from Uttar Pradesh -- president of the All India Imam Association (AIIA) who triggered an uproar with his objectionable statement about Dimple Yadav -- today doubled down on his remark, saying the Samajwadi Party leader was at a mosque and should have known about the decorum of the place.
Akhilesh and Dimple Yadav had visited a mosque last month and took part in a discussion and the cleric had made the comment after watching images from the occasion.
Today, asked if he regretted his comment in an exclusive interview, he told NDTV, "It is not that bad a word. Here is we see girls going around with their head uncovered, we tell them, "Cover your head. Why are you roaming naked'."
He said he had repeated the comment to make the point that a mosque has certain rules in terms of attire and the Samajwadi Party MP had ignored that.
Asked whether he stands by his statement, he said, "I have not said anything so objectionable. If you zoom into the photo (of the meeting) you can seen her back and neck".
At a television debate earlier this week, Rashidi had cited what he called an "embarrassing" picture of Ms Yadav -- wife of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav -- who was in a saree. "Look at her (Dimple Yadav's) back. It is naked," he said, pointing out that the other woman in the meeting, Samajwadi MP Iqra Hasan, had covered her head.
Rashidi today complained that instead of apologising, leaders of the Samajwadi Party have been issuing threats to him.
The police have registered a case against the cleric under Sections 79 (outraging modesty of women), 196 (promoting enmity between groups), 299 (outraging religious sentiments), and 352 (intentional insult) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Earlier today, the matter had its ripples in parliament, with BJP MPs holding massive protests against Rashidi inside the complex.
