Christians Under Attack

Devout Muslim hacks -- who were crouched behind their steering wheels in shame while driving with ads for strip clubs atop their taxis -- won a major victory yesterday in their war on roof smut.

The city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission agreed to give cabbies who own their vehicles absolute veto power on the content of ads on their cars -- delighting scores of modest hacks of various faiths who had fought hard for the rule overhaul.

“We are Muslims, and we do not like the ads!” crowed cabby Mohamed Tahir, 66, whose cab is topped with an image of a sexy brunette from Flashdancers Gentlemen’s Club.

He added, “If I had another ad, I’d change it right away! It bothers many of us.”

It won’t have to anymore.

Under the new rules, Tahir and other conservative cabbies who own their vehicles will have the right to nix any advertisements they deem offensive.

Previously, the owners of the taxi medallion -- often someone other than the car’s owner -- could decide what ads went up.

“The law is now on our side!” said a jubilant Osman Chowdhury, a longtime cabby and leading member of the Bangladesh Society in Queens.

Last week, he was so embarrassed at the strip-club ad on his cab -- which he uses as his primary mode of transportation during off hours -- that he refused to drive it to his mosque for services.

“I had to walk to mosque,” said Chowdhury.

“People getting out of the mosque would see the disgusting things.”

Prior to the vote, several cabbies recounted their shame at promoting jiggle joints to the TLC board of commissioners -- in a desperate effort to convince them to change the rules.

In one horrifying example, cabby Mohan Singh recalled his 6-year-old granddaughter telling him she wanted to be a “dancer” -- after seeing a Flashdancers ad atop his taxi.

That risque ad also prompted his grandnephew to ask what a “gentlemen’s club” was and if he could ever go to one.

“We should keep [the advertisement] there to tell the children that it is good?” he asked angrily.

In lobbying the board to vote yes on the rule change, Singh said, “I think you will be kindhearted and do what is right.”

The TLC board obliged yesterday, prompting a burst of applause from the appreciative crowd.

“If you’re a taxi driver who owns his or her own car, you take it home, your neighbors see it,” said TLC Commissioner David Yassky, who strongly supported the rules change.

"This is an appropriate and measured step that gives the driver the authority to screen out ads.”

Medallion owners make, on average, about $125 a month from the rooftop ads.

It is now illegal for medallion owners to dictate what ad content is displayed over the wishes of the car owners.

Singh -- the driver whose granddaughter noticed the Flashdancers ad -- said he would never again have another strip-club ad on his car.

“The most important thing is for the children,” he said after the TLC’s action.

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