The US on Thursday condemned remarks by two officials of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) about the Prophet Muhammad that have sparked an uproar in the Muslim world.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “We condemn the offensive comments made by two BJP officials and we were glad to see that the party publicly condemns those comments,” AFP reported.
“We regularly engage with the Indian government at senior levels on human rights concerns including freedom of religion or belief and we encourage India to promote respect for human rights,” he added.
BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma on May 26 had made inflammatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad that have triggered demonstrations across the Muslim nations.
Following the backlash, the saffron party suspended Sharma as well as Naveen Kumar Jindal, who was accused of inflammatory tweets about the Prophet.
The comments set off diplomatic protests in wealthy Gulf countries even that have close relations with India. They have demanded an apology from India over the remarks.
The US has several times carefully voiced concern about human rights in India as PM Modi is accused of introducing policies that target the minority Muslim community.
(With inputs)
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Rabia Shireen is a Staff Reporter at The Cognate.
