Last Sunday, May 1st Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suspended two of their spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal from the party’s primary membership following their controversial comments on Prophet Muhammad causing a global rage and stirring a storm in party itself. Nupur Sharma has been in the eye of the storm since she allegedly made comments on the prophet before in a TV debate. An FIR against Nupur Sharma was lodged on May 28 at the Pydhonie police station in Mumbai after the TV debate on 26th May in which she reportedly made derogatory remarks about the prophet. Another two cases were also filed in Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police Station and the other at Bhiwandi City Police Station in Mumbai for hurting religious sentiments. Nupur Sharma’s controversial allegations about the prophet also created violent clashes in some of the cities. About a dozen people including two policemen were injured after a clash broke out between two groups of different communities over a market shutdown in Kanpur.
Another saffron party leader Naveen Jindal has been receiving harsh criticism reportedly after he wrote offensive content against Islam on his Twitter handle. Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said while expelling Jindal from the party that his views on social media affect communal harmony and are in violation of the party’s fundamental beliefs. Unlike Sharma, his primary party membership has been terminated.
BJP, from the start, has distanced itself from Nupur Sharma’s comments on the Prophet Mohammed. In an official statement, BJP stated that insults of any religious personalities of any religion and underscoring every citizen’s right to practice any religion of their choice won’t be supported and “strongly denounced”. They tried to make it clear by stating that “the BJP does not promote such people or philosophy. During the thousands of years of the history of India, every religion has blossomed and flourished. The Bharatiya Janata Party respects all religions”. Arun Singh, the party’s national general secretary said in the press release, “The Bharatiya Janata Party respects all religions. The BJP strongly denounces insults of any religious personalities of any religion. The BJP is also strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion”.
The inflammatory remarks made by BJP leaders Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal have caused an uproar in Arab countries like Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc. And some other countries where hashtags calling for the boycott of Indian products are trending on Twitter. Meanwhile, Iran, Qatar, and Kuwait have summoned the Indian envoys to register their protest. Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Afghanistan, and many other countries criticized India and BJP leaders relaying their disapproval of the comments of BJP spokespersons.
“I condemn in the strongest possible words hurtful comments of India’s BJP leader about our beloved Prophet (PBUH). Have said it repeatedly India under Modi is trampling religious freedoms & persecuting Muslims. The world should take note & severely reprimand India. Our love for the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is supreme. All Muslims can sacrifice their lives for the Love & Respect of their Holy Prophet (PBUH),” tweeted the Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on this matter.
Saudi in a statement on Monday said, “the ministry of foreign affairs expresses its condemnation and denunciation of the statements made by the spokeswoman of India’s ruling BJP… and reaffirms its permanent rejection of prejudice against the symbols of the Islamic religion… The ministry of foreign affairs also welcomes the action taken by the BJP to suspend the spokeswoman from work and the ministry reiterates the Kingdom’s position calling for respect for beliefs and religions.”
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, strongly condemned what it called “unacceptable derogatory remarks” against the Prophet. “This message has been conveyed to the Indian ambassador in Jakarta,” the foreign ministry of Indonesia tweeted.
UAE while condemning the statements of BJP leaders also called for the “necessity of respecting religious symbols and not violating them, confronting hate speech and violence and strengthening the joint international responsibility to spread the value of tolerance and human coexistence and to prevent any practices that would inflame the religious feelings of followers of different religions”.
Sheikh Khalifa Ali Al Harthy, foreign ministry undersecretary for diplomatic affairs, Oman met India’s ambassador Amit Narang and expressed his country’s condemnation of the insulting remarks made about the Prophet. Mr. Harthy noted that such comments and incidents do not serve peaceful coexistence among people of different religions and only cause public outrage. Following the criticism earlier on Sunday by Qatar, Kuwait, Indonesia, etc. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has also criticized the comments of the BJP spokespersons.
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