Kolkata: MP Nusrat Jahan hits back at critics, calls herself 'God's special child'

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress MP and actor Nusrat Jahan , who was criticised earlier this week by an Islamic cleric in Uttar Pradesh for taking part in Durga Puja festivities, shot back at her critics on Friday, claiming herself to be the 'God’s special child' and said she considers herself as the God’s messenger for "spreading the message of communal harmony".


Speaking to TOI on her way to attend the Puja Carnival at Red Road, Jahan said: "I think I have been the God’s special child and the God has sent me to spread the message of religious harmony and I have taken the responsibility on me to do the same.”

Nusrat Jahan's husband Nikhil Jain was also present with her.

Last Monday, a prominent Muslim cleric had slammed Jahan for attending Durga Puja celebrations after she was spotted attending Suruchi Sangha puja in a saree and sporting sindur with her husband on Ashtami afternoon. TV channels showed her lip-syncing to hymns being recited by a priest, her eyes closed and hands folded in a solemn prayer before she danced to the beats of dhak played by her husband.

Mufti Asad Qasmi, a cleric associated with

Darul Uloom Deoband

, had told TV news channels: “She has been offering puja to Hindu gods despite the fact that Islam orders its followers to pray only to Allah. What she has done is 'Haram' (sinful). She has also married outside religion. She should change her name and religion. Islam doesn't need people who assume Muslim names and defame Islam and Muslims.”

"I have been part of the festival in

Bengal

for years," says the MP.On Friday, Jahan first took part in a celebrity Sindur Khela celebration at Maniktala Chaltabagan Lohapatty Puja Committee in the afternoon alongside celebrities like June Malia, Moonmoon Sen, Srabanti and Deblina Kumar. Later in the evening, she kicked off the puja carnival at Red Road for Sree Bhumi Sporting Club dancing to the tune of the club’s theme song and portraying Devi Durga in the dance form.

“In Bengal, everyone irrespective of their caste celebrates Durga Puja. I have been part of the festival in Bengal for years and I am not doing something different today. Probably the cameras are more focussed on me this time than earlier years. But I am just enjoying the festivity and would not like to react to the negativities,” she said.

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