Women not allowed to play football in Mamata's Bengal after Muslim clerics' fatwa

Malda, Mar 16: Muslim clerics in West Bengal's Malda district have allegedly issued a fatwa against women's football match citing its costumes are 'too tight' and women should not be wearing such dresses.

The diktat from fundamentalists has forced the organizers to return national-level players who had arrived here to attend the event from various parts of the country.

Football is the most popular sport in the entire state of West Bengal and people of all ages love watching and playing it.

As per a TOI report, the football match was organised by Progressive Youth Club of Chandipur village in Harishchandrapur police station area as a part of their golden jubilee celebrations.

Club president Reja Razi was quoted by TOI as saying, "The women's football match was to be played between Kolkata-XI and North Bengal-XI. National-level players such as Krishna Das, Sujata Kar, Arjuna-awardee Santi Mallik, Fifa referee Anamika Sen, captain of national handball team Anita Roy and many others were supposed to be present on the occasion. There was great enthusiasm about the event among local people."

The local administration is now giving the excuse of law and order to cancel the event.

The news daily quoted Razi as saying, "But last week, some moulavis (Muslim clerics) raised their objection to the women's football match. We had approached the block administration and the sub-divisional officer for help."

"On March 11, a meeting was also held in the presence of BDO between us and the fundamentalists who were against the match. The next day, many more clerics said a women's match would be against Islam. They also threatened to make a stronger agitation if the match was held. The BDO then ordered to stop the match," the club president further added.

Cancellation of event has irked the locals in the area who were excited about the match. The locals are even questioning the Mamata Banerjee Government in the state if it at all wants at to promote women empowerment.

OneIndia News