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Nupur Sharma in 2015
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in India announced the suspension of its spokeswoman, Nupur Sharma, following comments insulting to Islam, which were condemned and denounced by a number of Arab and Islamic countries.
She welcomed all of The Qatari and Kuwaiti foreign ministries decided by the party’s decision, but each added in a separate statement that it expects a public apology, and an official rejection from the Indian government, for these comments.
Sharma withdrew her comments unconditionally, in an apology that she posted on her social media account.
The party said, in an official statement, posted on its website, that it “strongly condemns any insult to a religion or religious figures.”
Sharma had made offensive remarks regarding the Prophet Muhammad and his wives during a televised debate, which led to an angry reaction in the Muslim world.
The hashtag #Except_Messenger_of_God_O_Modi attracted the attention of social media pioneers in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and a number of other Arab countries, following the comments of a spokeswoman for the party led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sharma said, on her Twitter account, that she made her comments, in response to insulting comments regarding one of the Hindu deities.
“If my words caused concern, or hurt the religious feelings of anyone, in this regard, I withdraw my statements, unconditionally,” she wrote, apologizing.
Arabic reactions and Islamic
Sharma’s statements sparked condemnation from several countries, including Qatar and Kuwait.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had summoned the Indian ambassador to protest once morest the insulting statements of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry also took a similar measure. She said she had handed the Indian ambassador a document protesting those comments.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed its condemnation and denunciation of the statements made by the party’s spokeswoman.
In a statement on Sunday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry affirmed the kingdom’s refusal to “violate the symbols of the Islamic religion, as well as reject all religious personalities and symbols.”
Meanwhile, the Saudi Foreign Ministry welcomed the ruling party’s suspension of its spokeswoman.
In Bahrain, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the offensive statements, and welcomed the BJP’s decision to suspend its spokeswoman, stressing “the need to denounce any insults once morest the Prophet Muhammad, as a provocation to Muslims’ feelings and incitement to religious hatred.”
Pakistan said in a statement that it “condemns in the strongest possible terms” the “extremely offensive” statements, and calls on the international community to take immediate measures to avert what it described as the worsening situation of Islamophobia in India.
The BJP made it clear that it had excluded another spokesperson for the BJP, Naveen Jindal, because of his offensive statements regarding Islam, which he posted on social media platforms.
The Indian politician had published a tweet on his official account on Twitter, in which he questioned the reason for the marriage of the Prophet Muhammad to Mrs. Aisha, who was not yet ten years old. This comment sparked widespread anger among the pioneers of communication sites in the Arab world, and condemnations considered what the Indian official said “crossing the red lines.”
“I just wondered regarding it, but that doesn’t mean I’m once morest any religion,” Jindal said on his Twitter account.
In Tehran, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Indian ambassador following insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
The Foreign Ministry informed the Indian ambassador, “The government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran protested once morest the insult to the Prophet Muhammad, on a television program in India.”
The semi-official Iranian Tasnim news agency said that the Indian ambassador “expressed his regret and rejection of any insult to the Prophet Muhammad, and announced that this did not represent the position of the Government of India, which pays the greatest respect to religions.” The ambassador was also quoted as saying that “the person who offends the Prophet does not hold any government position, but only has a party position, and he was expelled from this position.”
“Real” terrorism
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation strongly condemned the insulting statements of the Prophet Muhammad.
In a statement published on its official website on Sunday evening, the organization’s general secretariat called on the Indian authorities to “resolutely confront these abuses and all forms of insults to the Holy Prophet and the Islamic religion, bring the instigators, those involved, and perpetrators of violence and hate crimes once morest Muslims to justice, and hold the parties behind them accountable.” “.
The statement called on the international community, especially the United Nations and the Human Rights Council, to take the necessary measures to address the practices targeting Muslims in India.
Al-Azhar Al-Sharif – the highest religious institution in Egypt – also condemned the offensive statements and considered them “arrogance and bad manners in talking regarding the Prophet Muhammad and his wife, Lady Aisha.” He stressed, in an official statement on Sunday, that such behavior “is the real terrorism itself, which can plunge the entire world into deadly crises and wars.”
Al-Azhar called on the international community to respond firmly and forcefully to such abuses.
picture released, Getty Images
Critics of Modi’s government say violence once morest Muslims has increased since he came to power
Activists say the frequency of hate crimes once morest Muslims and other minorities has increased since 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) first took power.
Videos containing hate speech or violence once morest Muslims are widespread in India.
Critics claim that this is because of the support – explicit and tacit – that perpetrators receive from ruling party leaders.
They point out that attacks on Muslims by Hindu nationalist groups have become common in India in recent years, with little condemnation from the Indian government.
