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Updated: May 03, 2019 13:29 IST

Bollywood lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar has said if a law is passed to ban the burqa then it should also put a stop on the veil worn by women in Rajasthan.

The comments by Javed Akhtar, who was on a visit to Bhopal on Thursday, came after the BJP’s candidate from Bhopal parliamentary constituency Sadhvi Pragya Thakur demanded a ban on burqas for what she said was for the sake of national security.

The Shiv Sena has also demanded a ban on the burqa in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna in “national interest”.

“I am not in favour of the burqa but the law should be for both the burqa and veil,” he said while interacting with the media.

Akhtar also attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for giving the ticket to Pragya Thakur to contest the Lok Sabha election 2019 from Bhopal. Thakur is contesting against senior Congress leader and former chief minister of the state Digvijaya Singh. Polling will be held on May 12 and votes will be counted in May 23.

“The BJP might have given the ticket to Pragya Thakur due to their compulsion but it is shameful. How low do they think about the people of Bhopal? The BJP accepted its defeat by giving the ticket to Thakur,” he said.

Also Read | Pragya Thakur makes another controversial comment. This time it’s about burqas

He also said that the BJP should use her curse to kill Hafiz Saeed and other terrorists. Akhtar was referring to Thakur’s claim that it was her curse that had led to former Mumbai anti-terrorism squad chief Hemant Karkare’s death at the hand of terrorists during the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Attacking the ideology of the ruling party at the Centre, he said, “The BJP has come up with a new ideology going by which if we don’t support them, we are proclaimed anti-nationals.”

However, he said he did not support the language of slogans like “chowkidar chor hai”, which is being used by the Congress to hit at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I don’t like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah but I don’t see Congress national president Rahul Gandhi as the prime minister either. And this is not a presidential election where one face is everything. It is a parliamentary election where people will vote to choose a member of Parliament,” he added.

Javed Akhtar said the Lok Sabha election this year is going to be very important for the future of India.

“This election will decide on what direction our country will take,” he said adding that Modis will come and go but nation will remain here.