Muslims concentrated on wrong things like hijab and Sania Mirza's skirt: Naseeruddin Shah

In an interview with The Wire, Naseeruddin Shah said, "The fact is the Muslims are not blameless either. The Muslims have concentrated on all the wrong things.

"Instead of worrying about education, they're worrying about hijab, the length of Sania Mirza's skirt and all these sort of things when they should be worried about education, enlightening their race about exposing them to modern ideas instead of thrusting them into madrassas all the time and giving them only religious initiation. The Muslims have been at fault."

Speaking on the Hindu-Muslim discourse, Naseeruddin Shah refused to pin his blame only on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the debate.

"It's very easy for those of us who oppose Modi to blame everything that's wrong in the country on him. The fact is there were plenty wrong in the country even before Modi came to power.

"Modi just managed to tap into what was always dorment. It has always been an undercurrent of hostility among religions in our country," he said.

"I can recall as a child being taunted for being a Muslim and I remember taunting others about their religions, which I think has always been under the surface," the actor said and added, "Modi was very clever to tap into this hint or a cue that he got and to just dismember whatever remnants of secularism and equality were there," the actor added.

Apart from the Hindu-Muslim discourse, Naseeruddin Shah also spoke on Congress MP-elect Rahul Gandhi, who led his party to a much improved performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as compared to its decimation in 2014 and 2019.

The 73-year-old actor says, "The biggest takeaway I would think is the arrival of Rahul Gandhi as a competent, hardworking, astute politician rather than being an object of mirth for the Opposition.

"I think the joke Modi made about Rahul to his sycophantic interviewers who were all in splits about it was 'Kaun Rahul', I think that's the last joke that's ever going to be made about Rahul Gandhi."