Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on Sunday condemned the statements made by the suspended spokeswoman of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
In a statement, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the decision of the ruling party in India to suspend its spokesman from work, and reiterated the Kingdom’s position calling for respect for beliefs and religions.
The ministry stressed its rejection of any violation of Islamic symbols as well as the infringement of the symbols and important figures of all religions.
On Sunday, the ruling party in India announced the suspension of its spokeswoman, against the background of an offensive statement to the Prophet Mosque, and expelled another official— Naveen Kumar Jindal for the same matter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also said it had suspended party spokeswoman Nupur Sharma in response to comments about the Prophet Muhammad she made during a televised debate.
In a statement on its website, the party added that it respects all religions, saying, “The BJP strongly condemns any religious symbols insulting any religion.”
On June 1, senior BJP leader Naveen Kumar Jindal also tweeted from his official Twitter page against the Prophet.
Initially, there was no response from the saffron party over the development. However, the news soon spread to the Arab countries who sharply criticized the Narendra Modi government for not taking any steps.
The hashtag #Except_Messenger_of_Allah_Ya_Modi continues to lead the communication platforms in several Arab and Islamic countries, in protest against the insulting tweet of the Prophet Muhammad, amid calls for a boycott of India.
Reports of Indians, who serve a large percent of the working population in the Gulf countries, being laid off by their Arab bosses started surfacing on the internet.
‘Boycott India’ tweets started trending on the internet. In fact, the Grand Mufti of Oman along with Twitter handles with a large following have called for the boycott.
There were also reports of many superstores in the Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain removing Indian products from their shelves.
Qatar, Kuwait and Iran summons India’s envoy
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday summoned Dr Deepak Mittal, the Ambassador of India to the country, and handed him an official note, expressing the disappointment of Qatar and its total rejection and condemnation of the controversial remarks.
Kuwait on Sunday summoned the Indian ambassador to Doha to condemn the statements of an official of the ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the Prophet Muhammad.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned India’s ambassador to Tehran over an “insult to the Prophet of Islam in an Indian TV show,” according to state media.
