Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – India is heating up. Because the spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), Nupur Sharma issued a statement that made Arab countries flock to condemn and condemn the “Islamophobia” that occurred in the country.
Sharma’s statement in a televised debate was called insulting to the Prophet Muhammad. quote Sputnik News, in a debate in the Times Now media, Sharma was called mocking the Koran. He likened it to “the earth is flat”.
He also insulted an important Muslim figure, the Prophet Muhammad. That’s because he married his wife Aisyah, when he was young.
“The Prophet Muhammad married a six-year-old girl and then had a relationship with her at the age of nine,” he said in a video later deleted by the television channel.
As a result of his statement, the BJP Party, the most powerful party in India, has suspended Sharma since Sunday (5/6/2022). The BJP said in a statement on its website that the party respects all religions.
“The BJP strongly condemns the insulting of religious figures of any religion,” he said, as quoted from the statementi Straits Times.
Sharma is also reported to have issued a public apology after making impassioned statements about the Prophet Muhammad and said he had received death threats following his television appearance, as reported AFP.
Then what does Sharma look like?
Sharma himself has long been a mouthpiece for India’s Hindu nationalist government. The 37-year-old has become a regular on TV news debate, distinguishing herself as a passionate and aggressive advocate for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda.
His stature has increased with the fortunes of the ruling BJP Party, which in the last decade has established itself as India’s dominant political force by championing a Hindu identity.
Sharma is a trained lawyer who attended the London School of Economics, but he did not make it to the state election for the BJP in 2015.
He first joined the party’s youth wing while studying at Delhi University, where he was elected president of the student union and rose to prominence for leading student mobs to storm a seminar hosted by a Muslim academic in 2008.
Later that day he appeared on a television show to defend his actions and that of a fellow student for spitting on his teacher, who has been charged and acquitted of the terror attack on India’s parliament.
“I’m not going to apologize,” he said. “I will take a stand. The whole country should spit on him. Who invited him to university to talk about terrorism?”
Since coming to power nationally in 2014, the Modi government and the BJP have been accused of championing discriminatory policies against followers of the Islamic faith. Party leaders have also remained silent on vigilante attacks against Muslims over the slaughter of cows, which are sacred animals in Hindu tradition.
India has received criticism from abroad on the issue of religious discrimination. The foreign ministry last week issued a statement saying the country “respects religious freedom and human rights.”
(tfa / tfa)
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