Nupur Sharma: Prophet Muhammad row deepens India's diplomatic woes

Related:
• Nupur Sharma: The Indian woman behind offensive Prophet Muhammad comments (BBC)
• Prophet Muhammad remarks embroil India in row with Gulf states (The Guardian)

Also: India: more countries join Muslim protests over Muhammad remarks (The Guardian)

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Source: BBC

Nupur Sharma: Prophet Muhammad row deepens India’s diplomatic woes

By Vikas Pandey
BBC News, Delhi

7 June 2022

India's diplomatic nightmare over controversial comments made by two senior officials of the country's ruling party about the Prophet Muhammad is showing no signs of ending.

The UAE, Oman, Indonesia, Iraq, the Maldives, Jordan, Libya and Bahrain have joined the growing list of countries in the Islamic world that have condemned the remarks. Earlier, Kuwait, Iran and Qatar had called Indian ambassadors to register their protest, and Saudi Arabia had issued a strongly worded statement.

Indian diplomats have been trying to placate these countries - it shares cordial relations with most of them - but the storm is far from over.

At the centre of this controversy is Nupur Sharma, who was a spokesperson of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She made the remark in a televised debate last month, and videos of her statement had gone viral. Naveen Jindal, who was media head of the party's Delhi unit, had also posted a provocative tweet on the issue.

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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61701908

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Source: The Guardian

India: more countries join Muslim protests over Muhammad remarks

Disciplinary action against members of BJP fails to quell growing anger in Muslim world over comments insulting the prophet

Amrit Dhillon in Delhi
Tue 7 Jun 2022 12.26 BST
Last modified on Tue 7 Jun 2022 13.09 BST

Six more countries have joined diplomatic protests across the Muslim world over derogatory remarks insulting the prophet Muhammad made by spokespeople for the party of Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.

Indonesia, the UAE, the Maldives, Jordan, Bahrain and Libya have joined Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Afghanistan in lodging official complaints over comments from representatives of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party. Meanwhile hardline party members have reacted angrily to disciplinary action against the pair after their comments went viral in the Middle East.

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The BJP’s attempt to quell the anger by suspending its national spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, and expelling its Delhi media head, Naveen Kumar Jindal, and dismissing them as “fringe elements” who did not represent the government’s views has had little success in the Muslim world.

And at home Hindu hardliners who have frequently targeted India’s Muslim minority vented their anger over the climbdown, unusually for a party that has never faced any internal criticism in its eight years in power.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/07/india-more-countries-join-muslim-protests-over-muhammad-remarks