"Be It Bikini Or Hijab...": Trinamool's Nussrat Jahan On 'Pathaan' Row

Trinamool Congress MP Nussrat Jahan has strongly condemned comments by some BJP leaders on actor Deepika Padukone for wearing an orange outfit in a song of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'Pathaan'.

"It is not about anybody's ideology. It is about one party in power trying to create such a picture in a set of people. So what they are doing is, anything that is spiritual, religious are endorsed well and are highly appreciated. And now they start talking about culture, women wearing bikini," Ms Jahan told NDTV today.

"They have a problem with everything. They have a problem with women wearing hijab. They have a problem with women wearing bikini. It is them who are telling the new-age women of India what to wear," Ms Jahan said.

"They are trying to command our lives by telling us what to wear, what to eat, how we should talk, how we should walk, what we should learn in school, what we should watch on TV…we are completely directed in this so-called new, evolved India. It is so scary. I fear that in the long run, I do not know where it would take all of us," the Trinamool MP told NDTV.

Ms Jahan's comments came a day after Shah Rukh Khan warned people against the "divisive and destructive" nature of social media.

Among those who have targeted 'Pathaan' are Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra of the BJP, who claimed one of the songs in the film showed a "contaminated mindset" and threatened to block its release in the state.

Central to the controversy around 'Pathaan' is an allegation that in the song 'Besharam Rang' (Shameless Colour), Ms Padukone wears an orange outfit which, according to its detractors, resembles the saffron that is sacred in Hinduism and is the main colour of the BJP.

Campaigns based on such scanty excuses against Mr Khan and those of his colleagues who are not seen as unabashed supporters of the ruling party have grown in recent years, threatening the country's vast film industry.