More and more people are showing their support for the cause as protests demanding justice for Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died while in the care of the Iranian morality police, are taking place all throughout the country.
The protests in Iran are against the government forcing women to cover their heads and inflicting violence on them in cases where the arbitrary dress codes are broken. As an act of resistance, many Iranian women are chopping off their hair and it’s led to token acts of support in the form of celebrities snipping off a lock of their hair on camera or posting about the protests.
Read more: US President warns Iran to face costs for crackdown on protests
People quickly pointed out that Priyanka Chopra has never spoken about the oppression of Muslim women in India and India-occupied Jammu & Kashmir, despite the fact that she posted a picture and post about the cause.
On Monday, she shared a photo on Instagram with her thoughts on Iranian women. “The voices that speak after ages of forced silence, will rightfully burst like a volcano! And they will not and MUST not be stemmed,” she wrote while expressing how she’s in awe of the courage and purpose.
The Bajirao Mastani actor added that it’s not easy to risk your life in order to “challenge the patriarchal establishment” while fighting for your rights. She also weighed in on the matter that people need to join in for their collective voice to be heard as numbers matter. “I stand with you. Jin, jiyan , azaadi… Women, life, freedom,” she concluded.
Read more: Iranian police arrests woman for eating out without headscarf
But soon after her Instagram post, Chopra was called out on social media for not raising her voice for the Muslim women in her own country. One user said in the southern Indian state of Karnataka where Chopra is from Muslim women are fighting for their right to wear hijabs.
.@priyankachopra your activism of convenience is pukeworthy. This means nothing when you choose to look away from the plight of hijabi women in India who are denied education for wearing a piece of cloth over their head, harassed by hindutva goons and state. You are a Hypocrite! pic.twitter.com/Rkv9PpG6ZR
— Nabiya Khan | نبیہ خان (@NabiyaKhan11) October 7, 2022
Another user tweeted
Hey @priyankachopra, how about women raising their voices to wear Hijab in Karnataka? In India, where you’re from, any word on that? pic.twitter.com/8qeeIbkaYu
— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) October 8, 2022
https://twitter.com/mehdizafar/status/1578837090531692545
The issue is not limited to Priyanka Chopra and India. When French actors trimmed their hair in solidarity, people were quick to call them out for staying silent on the treatment of Muslim women in France.
Read more: UN urges Iran to stop using “disproportionate force” against protestors
The issue is not and has never been about religion. The Iranian movement is based on women being forced to follow a dress code and oftentimes brutalized if they don’t. We should all be supporting Iranian women on their quest for freedom from oppression and the ability to choose what to wear but that doesn’t mean forgetting what’s happening in our own backyards.