Miss India wins 70th edition of Miss Universe

The 70th edition of the annual pageant, which was held in Israel for the first time, happened with issues and disturbances resulting from the covid 19 pandemic.

Sandhu took the top prize in the Red Sea resort, with Paraguay’s Nadia Ferreira coming in as the first runner-up and Miss South Africa Lalela Mswane took the second runner-up spot.

Before the grand finale, the South Africa’s Ministry of Sports, Culture and Arts had urged its contestant to stay away from Eilat, citing “atrocities committed by Israel against Palestinians.” This call boomed different Palestinian groups and pleaded with contestants to avoid the event.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel wrote, “We urge all participants to withdraw, to avoid complicity in Israel’s apartheid regime and its violation of Palestinian human rights.”

The pageant had 80 contestants from different countries like Miss Morocco Kawtar Benhalima and Miss Bahrain Manar Nadeem Deyani, whose majority Muslim nations normalized ties with Israel last year.

In an interview with AFP in Jerusalem late last month, the outgoing Miss Universe Andrea Meza, of Mexico, said the pageant should steer clear of politics.

“Miss Universe isn’t a political movement, nor a religious one. It’s about women and what they can offer.” Said Andrea Meza

Different nations that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel and are Muslim-majority like Indonesia and Malaysia did not send contestants but citing out issues related to the pandemic.

The United Arab Emirates, which also normalized ties with Israel last year and where Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made a historic visit Sunday, has also not sent a candidate.

Countries from the UAE said that was due to time restrictions in selecting its national winner.

The event came with a lot of criticism from the time when contestants landed in Israel late last month.

“Colonialism, racism, cultural appropriation, patriarchy, whitewashing, all in one place,” tweeted Ines Abdel Razek of the advocacy group the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy.

Participants in the pageant, which was co-owned by Donald Trump before he became US president, must be between the ages of 18 and 28 and may never have married or bore a child.

The coronation ceremony according to organizers was watched by over 600 million viewers in 172 countries.