The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suspended Nupur Sharma, its spokesperson, after her remarks during a television show sparked a row and drew a massive backlash from Gulf countries.
Ms Sharma later unconditionally withdrew the controversial statement and said in a statement posted on Twitter that it was never her intention to hurt anyone’s religious feelings.
Who is Nupur Sharma?
According to her LinkedIn profile, Ms Sharma is an advocate by profession and a prominent BJP leader. A law graduate from Delhi University, she completed an LLM from the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2011.
Ms Sharma has been involved in politics from her college days. She also worked as an Ambassador for Teach For India from July 2009 to June 2010, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Political career
Ms Sharma’s political career began in 2008 when she was elected as the president of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU), according to Australia-India Youth Dialogue.
She then worked with the BJP’s youth wing.
Contested against Arvind Kejriwal
Ms Sharma contested the 2015 Delhi elections against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi seat.
She, however, lost the election for the seat.
Controversial remarks
The BJP took action against Ms Sharma after violence erupted in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur over her remarks. More than 40 people were injured and over 1,500 people charged in connection with the violence.
Countries in the Gulf region – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain – and Iran have strongly condemned the remarks. Qatar and Bahrain also summoned the Indian envoy and expressed their disappointment.
The two countries have, however, welcomed the BJP’s action against Ms Sharma.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, or OIC, condemned her remarks, saying it came in a “context of intensifying hatred and abuse towards Islam in India and systematic practices against Muslims”.
In response, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi “categorically rejected” OIC Secretariat’s unwarranted comments, calling them “narrow-minded”. The ministry also said that the government of India accords the “highest respect to all religions”.
NDTV
