Explainer | How BJP’s Nupur Sharma’s Prophet Mohammed comments pushed India into diplomatic maelstrom

Name: Muslims around world condemn ‘Islamophobic’ remarks by India’s ruling party spokeswoman
Uploaded: 2022-06-09T08:37:00.000Z
Duration: 2 min 40 s
Description: Muslims around world condemn ‘Islamophobic’ remarks by India’s ruling party spokeswoman

Outrage over now-suspended ruling party member’s offensive remarks on Islam’s founder has forced the Modi government to douse a diplomatic backlash from the Arab world

Experts say the condemnation won’t bring real change to the Hindu nationalist party’s ideology, but may serve as a warning to its hardline followers who spread hate

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Pakistani protesters burn a poster of BJP’s Nupur Sharma in Karachi on June 7. Photo: AFP

Amrit Dhillon

Published: 4:37pm, 9 Jun 2022Updated: 7:39pm, 10 Jun 2022

India has been caught in a diplomatic storm over controversial remarks made by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) spokeswoman Nupur Sharma about the Prophet Mohammed.

The comments, made during a television debate in late May, have drawn widespread condemnation from more than a dozen Islamic nations – forcing the BJP to suspend Sharma from the party. The BJP said in a statement last week that it “respects all religions”.

The opposition parties have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of damaging India’s standing internationally by allowing such comments, along with earlier hate speeches by other BJP leaders, to go unpunished. But the 37-year-old’s sacking has angered the party’s hardline members, who said it is “humiliating” that the government buckled under pressure from the Muslim world.

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Muslims around world condemn ‘Islamophobic’ remarks by India’s ruling party spokeswoman

Who is Nupur Sharma and what did she say about the Prophet Mohammed?

Until she got the boot, the lawyer-turned-politician was national spokesperson for the BJP, featuring frequently in TV news channel debates where she vociferously – and often vitriolically – defended the party.

On May 26, she began haranguing one of her fellow participants, a Muslim man. As the discussion heated up, Sharma made snide comments about the Prophet’s third wife Aisha, which are considered offensive by Muslims across the world.

Though the Indian media did not cover the incident widely or reprint the inflammatory comment, videos of her statement went viral on social media and sparked angry protests in some states.

But Sharma remained defiant, boasting in interviews about how BJP leader and federal Home Minister Amit Shah had called her to express his support. She also got the backing of anti-Islam Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who said in a tweet: “Don’t listen to the hypocrites. Islamic nations had no freedom and persecuted minorities and they should be criticised.”