Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 5: Faced with the threat of boycotting Indian goods by the people in the gulf countries, the BJP on Sunday suspended party spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled her colleague Naveen Kumar Jindal from the party for their alleged offensive remarks on Prophet Mohammad during a television debate recently.
The suspension and expulsion orders followed a statement issued by the central committee of the party denouncing comments insulting to any religious personalities. “The Bharatiya Janata Party is strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion. The BJP does not promote such people or philosophy,” the statement said.
Sharma and Jindal’s comments besides igniting violence in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh on Friday had also caused massive backlash in the Gulf countries with many of them threatening to boycott all Indian goods. According to sources in the party, the controversy over the statements was becoming bigger by the day, provoking violence in Kanpur on June 3, and with growing protests in the Gulf countries as well. This is probably one of the first instances of spokespersons of the BJP being suspended from the primary membership of the party, clearly demonstrating that protests came from serious quarters. Hashtags calling for the boycott of Indian goods in Gulf countries trended on twitter and more seriously, the Grand Mufti of Oman tweeting from his official account denouncing the statement.
In a letter to Nupur Sharma, Om Pathak, the member secretary of the central disciplinary committee of the BJP, said: “You have expressed views which are contrary to the Party’s position. I have been directed to convey to you that pending further inquiry, you are suspended from the party and from your responsibilities.”
The party also released a statement signed by BJP general secretary Arun Singh distancing the party from these statements, without naming either Ms. Sharma or Jindal or contextualising the statement with their utterances.
“During the thousands of years of the history of India, every religion has blossomed and flourished. The Bharatiya Janata Party respects all religions. The BJP strongly denounces insult of any religious personalities of any religion,” it said. “India’s Constitution gives the right to every citizen to practise any religion of his/her choice and to honour and respect every religion,” the party said.
“As India celebrates the 75th year of its Independence, we are committed to making India a great country where all are equal and everyone lives with dignity, where all are committed to India’s unity and integrity, where all enjoy the fruits of growth and development,” it added. Later, it released orders suspending Nupur Sharma, pending an inquiry, and expelling Naveen Kumar Jindal. While Nupur Sharma was a national spokesperson for the party, Naveen Jindal led the party’s Delhi media unit.
Ms Sharma’s comment during a TV debate last week, purportedly insulting the Prophet, had triggered a huge outcry and protests from Muslim groups. As the controversy snowballed, Naveen Kumar Jindal posted a tweet about the Prophet that also angered many, forcing him to delete it. At least 40 people, including 20 police personnel, were injured during the clashes in Kanpur during protests over the comments. The police had to fire tear gas shells to disperse the crowd and prevent further violence and arrested 36 people while filling cases against about 1,500 alleged rioters.
The riot broke out when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind were at a function 80 kilometres away from the spot. Nupur Sharma has also been named in multiple police cases in Maharashtra over her comment. The Mumbai police registered an FIR against Sharma based on a complaint by Irfan Shaikh, joint secretary of the Mumbai wing of Raza Academy. It stated that Sharma, in a news debate on the Gyanvapi issue, allegedly made abusive comments about the Prophet. While Sharma has denied saying anything “abusive” or “wrong”, she claimed that she has been getting death and rape threats since the controversy broke out. But BJP sources said Sharma’s statement had “upset” and “disappointed” the party’s leadership including Modi who keeps speaking about the ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ formula in governance issues.