Train racist tells Nadiya: I ain’t sitting near a Muslim
Bake Off star’s shock at abuse
GREAT British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain has spoken of how a racist refused to sit next to her on a train.
She said she was abused during a journey on Wednesday, when a man remarked: “I ain’t sitting near a Muslim.”
Revealing her ordeal in a tweet, Nadiya added: “His ignorance is his own ruin.”
The 31-year-old, who grew up in Luton, has previously spoken about how she suffers racist abuse and “it feels like that’s become a part of my life now”.
She said: “I expect to be shoved or pushed, or verbally abused, because it happens, it’s happened for years.”
Nadiya was a full-time mum when she won the BBC baking show last year and is now a columnist, author and TV presenter.
A contestant from this year’s series, Rav Bansal, replied to her tweet about the train incident to say he had a similar experience recently. He added: “You are a much better person than he will ever be.”
And Citizen Khan star and broadcaster Adil Ray, who has also suffered racist abuse, jokingly asked her: “Were you eating a doner kebab again Nadiya?” She replied: “Mmmmm not this time.”
Mum-of-three Nadiya, who lives with husband Abdal, now believes that the best way to deal with abuse is to not retaliate.
Instead, she wants to instil a love of Britain in her own family.
Speaking in a previous interview, she said: “I just feel like there is a dignity in silence. I think if I retaliate to negativity with negativity, then we’ve evened out.
“I don’t need to even that out because if somebody is being negative, I need to be the better person. Because I have young children, I don’t want my kids to have a negative attitude of living in the UK.”