- Gita Bandi
- BBC News – Delhi
3 hours ago
Nupur Sharma caused a crisis
India is experiencing a diplomatic nightmare over controversial comments made by a high-ranking official from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party regarding the Prophet Muhammad.
Nupur Sharma’s comments, made during a televised debate, angered Muslims in India, as well as more than a dozen Muslim countries.
The BJP suspended Nupur Sharma’s membership. The party’s media official in Delhi, Naveen Kumar Jindal, was also fired for sharing images of the aforementioned comments on Twitter.
The BJP said in a statement that it was ” once morest any ideology that insults and demeans any sect or religion,” and that it does not encourage people who do so or their ideas.
In an attempt to contain the anger of Muslim peoples, Indian diplomats said the comments did not represent the position of the Indian government and were the ideas of “marginal elements”.
But many pointed out that Sharma, 37, is not a “marginal element”, as she was a spokeswoman for him, who appeared in many forums, and participated in many television debates, representing and defending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
picture released, Getty Images
Sharma’s statement sparked protests
Sharma started her political career when she was a law student at Delhi University in 2008, where she was elected president of the Student Union as a candidate for the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh nationalist movement.
Her political career took a leap in 2011 when she returned to India following obtaining a master’s degree from the London School of Economics.
Sharma was eloquent, and her eloquence and ability to articulate in English and Hindi made her way to the party’s media committee during the 2013 parliamentary elections.
Two years later, when new elections were held, she was the party’s candidate once morest Delhi’s Chief Minister, Arvimdi Kajriwal.
No one expected her to win, but her dynamic campaign made her spotlight, and she was appointed as the party’s spokesperson in Delhi, and then became the party’s public spokesperson in 2020.
Sharma’s face had become familiar on screen in the last two years, and almost every night she might be seen screaming at her political opponents, calling them unfriendly.
In footage shared by her fans on Twitter, she might be heard describing a panelist as a “hypocritical and liar” and telling him to “shut up”.
And when she posted the clip on Twitter, which is followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with another half a million followers, it won admiration from her supporters, who described her as a fierce and fearless fighter.
Sharma said in a statement issued following her dismissal from the party that she regretted the statements, but tried to justify them as a response to insults to the Lord “Shiva”, the Hindu god.
Her offensive comments came in a discussion regarding the Gianfapi Mosque.
picture released, Getty Images
Some expect things to calm down and Sharma to return to political life
Hindus claim that the mosque in Varanasi was built on the ruins of a 16th century Hindu shrine that was destroyed in 1669, and some Hindus now demand that they be allowed to pray inside the mosque.
And a video clip allowed by the court to be filmed inside the mosque appeared, what some Hindus say is the symbol of the god “Siva”. But the mosque authorities say it is a water fountain.
The controversy is heard in court, but the debate rages on on television, and Sharma has been a strong representative of the Hindu view, and appears to have gone too far in her May 27 comments.
After journalist Muhammad Zubair shared a snapshot of her violent statements on Twitter, she tweeted to the Delhi Police that she was receiving a large amount of death, beheading and rape threats once morest her, her sister, her mother and her father.
She accused Zubair of promoting a fabricated story in order to increase tension and stir societal strife once morest her and her family.
She directed her tweets to Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and her party leader, JP Nada.
Three days following the outbreak of the crisis, she said in a television interview that the Prime Minister, the Minister of Interior and the head of the party support her.
The situation began to get more complicated when violence erupted at a protest demonstration in Kanpur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
The state is ruled by the hard-line Hindu cleric Yogi Adityanath, and protests have been violently suppressed, complaints once morest hundreds of Muslims have been filed, and dozens arrested.
But Sharma’s party was unable to ignore protests and condemnations from countries in the Middle East, and the foreign ministries of Kuwait, Iran and Qatar summoned India’s ambassadors.
While Saudi Arabia, in turn, issued a strongly worded statement, the United Arab Emirates, whose relations with India have improved in recent years, criticized the statements.
There have been calls in recent days for Sharma to be arrested for her “comments”, and police in more than one opposition-controlled state have opened investigation files once morest her. The Delhi Police tightened its guard.
On the other hand, Twitter witnessed more than one support hashtag, such as “Support Nupur Sharma” and “Bring Nupur Sharma back to her site.”
Some commentators have pointed out that more than one politician made hateful comments and survived, and that this would not be the last chapter in Sharma’s political career.