Islamic countries have strongly criticised Indian PM Modi’s ruling party BJP over insulting comments about the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ made by its party spokespeople Tejasvi Surya, Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister said that “Islamophobic remarks angered all Muslims around the world and allowing such remarks to continue without punishment constitutes a grave danger which will create a cycle of violence and hate.” Qatar said that it wanted New Delhi to apologise publicly.
The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the remarks on the Prophet and said “it is growing spate of hatred and defamation of Islam in India, citing the hijab ban and recent instances of destruction of Muslim properties.”
BJP replied that it “denounces insults of any religious personalities and labelled Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal as fringe elements.”
India’s Foreign Minister called OIC’s comments “unwarranted and narrow-minded” and added that comments of the BJP officials “do not, in any matter, reflect the views of the government of India.”
For ten days, Modi’s government did not take any action on Nupur and Naveen derogatory comments on television and Twitter till the widespread condemnation from GCC countries and social media in the Middle East.
The government of India also forgot the previous controversies by Denmark in 2006 and Macron’s France in September 2020 by republication of cartoons of Prophet Muhammedﷺ.
Denmark insult to Islam sparked boycott of Denmark’s dairy products, medicines, and Lego toys in the Middle East in 2006. Danish-Swedish Arla Foods lost $65 million while others lost more than $1,6 billion because of the boycotts. The Danish GDP dropped equivalent to 0.5% due to drop of Danish exports to the Middle East and Iran.
Macron lost most of the Sahel countries like Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Algeria. France oil giant ‘Total’ suspended its gas projects in Mozambique because French Engineers were killed in 2021.
I hope the Indian government will take action against the ‘fringe elements’ and become economically and militarily stronger to face China’s expansionist policies.
