After ‘Boycott India’ Tweets Trend In Arab World, BJP Suspends Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar, Over Blasphemous Comments On Prophet

Amidst outrage and demonstrations in India against BJP leader, Nupur Sharma’s blasphemous comments on the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) on a TV show, hashtags calling for the boycott of Indian products are trending on Twitter in Arab countries.

The Grand Mufti of Oman, Sheikh Al-Khalili and Islamic scholar Sheikh Muhammad al-Hassan al-Dido al-Shanqiti are among the influential people who have called for the boycott.

“The brazen and obscene pretentiousness of the official spokesman of the ruling extremist party in India against the messenger of Islam, peace and blessings be upon him, and his pure wife, Mother of the Believers, Ayesha, may Allah be pleased with her, is a war against every Muslim in the east and west of the earth, and it is a matter that calls for all Muslims to rise as one nation,” the Mufti tweeted.

BJP national spokesperson Nupur Sharma in a news debate on a TV channel had insulted the Prophet and made inflammatory comments, infuriating Muslims. Since then, cases have been lodged against Sharma across the country.

In Kanpur, protests against Sharma spiralled into violence. Thirty-six people have been arrested and a case filed against over 1,500 people so far.

With the issue snowballing into a pan-Islamic controversy, the BJP has suspended Sharma and the party’s Delhi media in charge Naveen Kumar Jindal, who had also made similar remarks against the Prophet on Twitter.

In a statement released on Sunday, June 5, by BJP’s party general secretary Arun Singh, the party asserted that it “is strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion,” adding that it “respects all religions and strongly denounces insult of any religious personality.”

“The BJP does not promote such people or philosophy,” said Arun Singh.