BJP calls fatwa barring women from watching football 'ridiculous'

Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday called Darul Uloom Deoband's fatwa, forbidding Muslim women from watching men's football, as "ridiculous".

"This is the ridiculous thing I have ever heard. The men wear shorts so the women might see their bare legs and get excited? What is this nonsense? Tell the man to wear long pants then and play football," Swamy told ANI.

The Islamic seminary yesterday ordered that Muslim women should not watch men playing soccer as it violates the tenets of Islam.

"Football is played wearing shorts, so watching men playing with bare knees is forbidden for women; it is against religious belief," a senior Darul Uloom Deoband cleric Mufti Athar Kasmi said.

The Rajya Sabha MP further said, "They will become the laughing stock of the world. This country is on the constitution, not on the basis of Quran. These elements are trying to impose ancient ideologies in our country."

On the other hand, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan said, "Islam has always discouraged exposing body parts".

"But when it comes to sports, some things can be relaxed," he added.

Earlier this month, the Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia allowed women to watch matches in soccer stadiums.

-ANI