If burqa is to be banned, ban goongat too: Javed Akhtar

Bhopal: Bollywood screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar on Thursday said the goongat (covering of head by women) should also be disallowed if there would be restrictions on burqa in the country.

Talking to reporters here, Mr Aktar said women in Rajasthan were practising the goongat system for ages.

If the country thought of banning burqa, the goongat should also be banned, he said while reacting to demand by Shiv Sena to impose a ban on the burqa as was done by Sri Lanka in the wake of the Easter suicide attacks there. Shiv Sena, however, later had withdrawn the demand.

Replying to a question, Mr Akhtar said he was not supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah, but, “I also do not see a Prime Minister material in Rahul Gandhi.”

He strongly disapproved the decision by BJP to field Pragya Thakur, an accused in 2008 Malegaon blast, in which six people were killed and about 80 were injured, in Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency.

The BJP should not have fielded her in elections, he said.