Pictures of mysterious burkha clad Muslim woman who promotes BJP while performing Hindu rituals going viral

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Varanasi:  Since the advancement in technology and easy availability of internet, social media has become a household tool around the globe, and with this tool there comes many factors, including positive and negative effect on anybody or entire community. You never know what have been cooking and what’s being served on this massively large and rapidly growing platform.

A picture of burkha clad Muslim woman is going viral on social media who was last seen reading Hanuman Chalisia along with couple of other Muslim women at a temple in Varanasi seeking an end to the contentious practice of triple talaq. She identified herself as Nazneen Ansari who runs a small organisation called Muslim Mahila Foundation claiming to fight for the rights of poor women of the Muslim community.

People alleges foul play and propaganda

Nazneen Ansari’s photos have appeared on social media several times in the past since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, she was seen holding PM Modi’s photos and placards in public. What creates doubt among Muslim community on social media is not just her support for BJP or PM Modi which is rare from Muslims but rather her indulgence in polytheist Hindu rituals which goes opposite to the basic following of monotheist religion of Islam.

Many even alleged she is not a Muslim, is working for RSS to promote their anti-Muslim propaganda or to accept their narrative of ‘majoritarian bias’ which strangulates the rights of Muslim communities. Samajwadi Party Youth Leader Santosh Rai went on alleging that she is not a resident of Varanasi which she has been claiming, he said she has vested interest.

https://twitter.com/AGC00101/status/863720919985946625

Who is she and whom she works for?

We tried to dig out as much information as possible to find the truth about this mysterious controversy. Nazneen Ansari who claims to have master’s degree in conflict management from Banaras Hindu University, is President of a  women’s wing called Muslim Mahila Foundation ( Alleged to be associated with RSS though there is no official affiliation between two), she is also associated with the Bharatiya Awam Party who’s President is Najma Parveen . Both organisations claim to be working for the welfare of women, especially Muslims.

Nazneen first came into limelight after she scripted Hindu epic Ramcharitmanas of legendry poet Tulsidar in Urdu in 2007. She said she believes that Rama as an ideal of humanity. She also composed ‘aarti’ of Rama and Hanuman Chalisa, Durga Chalisa in Urdu. She had also claimed that she recited Hanuman Chalisa at famous Sankat Mochan Temple after the terrorist blast in 2006.

But she gain little more popularity in 2013 when she claimed that 35,000 muslim women from her organisation will vote for Narendra Modi for General Election because she was seen as the only Muslim woman to be supporting Narendra Modi after his tainted image of 2002 Gujarat Riots.

In 2013, her Muslim Mahila Foundation organised an congregation in which RSS leader and patron of Muslim  Rashtrya Manch  Indresh Kumar was Chief Guest, he lauded Nazneen Ansari for her initiative to spread nationalism among Muslims and working for unity in the country.

In December 2014, she had also sent a petition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. She believes that the construction of Ram Mandir would end hatred and strengthen the bond of unity and harmony between Hindu and Muslim, and it would be the permanent solution of ending the hatred between the two communities.
“Yadi Musalman apni tarakki chahate hain aur Hinduon se ijjat chahate hain to Ram janmbhoomi par mandir nirman ke liye pahal kare kyonki duniya janti hai Ayodhya Sri Ram ki hai,” (If Muslims want prosperity and respect from Hindus they should come forward to build the temple at the birthplace of Ram, as all know that Ayodhya belongs to Sri Ram), said Nazneen adding that the construction of temple would be the permanent solution of ending the hatred between the two communities.

“Ram se yudh karne wale Ravan ko logon ne maf nahi kiya toh Ram mandir todne wale Babar aur uske samarthakon ko log kaise maf karenge,” (When people did not forgive Ravana for fighting with Ram, how could they forgive the Ram Mandir destroyer Babar and his supporters), wondered Nazneen. Describing Babar as Mongol invader, she wrote that his ancestor Halaku killed thousands of Muslims and Khalifa in Baghdad in 1258, and Babar sowed the seeds of hatred by destroying Ram Mamdir in 1528. “Everybody know that the Indian Muslims have no connect with Mongols,” she said adding that those who oppose the construction of temple really are not well wisher of Muslims.

In 2016, she was awarded with 100 women achievers award by President Pranab Mukherjee after she was selected by Ministry of Women Child Department from Varanasi.

She also called for the nationwide ban on cow slaughter and asked Muslims to stop consuming beef, “Cow is a symbol of our Indian culture and at any cost we will save them. Those who advocate beef consumption are actually trying to defame Muslims, We request our Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to impose ban on cow slaughter completely and stop politics on cow”

Conclusion 

In her earliest interview in 2013, she claimed she is neither Muslim nor Hindu, she said she follows national religion which combines all religions. Mostly appearing in Burkha , Nazeen has been publicly accorded with Hindutva agenda like Ram Mandir, Hindu Nationalism, Uniform Civil Code, Talaq, Beef, et al. Many alleging that instead of solely looking into the welfare of deprived Muslim women condition in one of the poorest state, she has vested interests or she is being used by Anti-Muslim organisations.

We individually cannot conclude or blame her with vested interest while she is not hiding her initiatives and associations.

With PTI inputs