A recent photograph of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and his wife, Member of Parliament Dimple Yadav, has sparked a political controversy. The image, captured near the Parliament House in Delhi, shows the couple seated inside a mosque. Also present were Mohibullah Nadvi, SP MP from Rampur and also the mosque’s imam, along with several other party lawmakers.
The visit, however, has not gone unnoticed by political rivals. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused Akhilesh Yadav of using a religious site for political optics. The controversy further escalated due to Dimple Yadav’s attire during the visit.
Jamal Siddiqui, president of the BJP’s Minority Morcha, criticized Dimple Yadav’s presence and dress inside the mosque. In a statement to India Today, Siddiqui claimed that the mosque is a sacred space with specific rules for male and female entry. “There are separate sections for women, usually on an upper level,” he explained. “But here, Dimple and Akhilesh were seated together.” Siddiqui also took issue with Dimple’s outfit, alleging that her blouse exposed her midriff, which he described as “semi-nude” and “inappropriate” for a mosque setting.
He further condemned the behavior of the SP leaders inside the religious space, saying, “A mosque is not a tea lounge. It is the house of Allah. What we saw was laughter and tea being shared — that’s not what a mosque is meant for.”
Adding to the criticism, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya also took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to target Akhilesh Yadav. In his tweet, Maurya wrote, “He went to the mosque but forgot to carry his white prayer cap. If he wanted to appear aligned with the ‘occupier’s brigade,’ he should have paid more attention to the details.”
The incident has sparked heated debates online and in political circles, highlighting the sensitive nature of religious spaces and the growing scrutiny over public appearances by political figures.