New Delhi: Massive protests erupted in several parts of India on Friday against the disparaging remarks made by two Bharatiya Janata Party spokespersons about Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Many Muslim-majority countries have condemned India after Nupur Sharma made the remarks during a debate on the Times Now television channel on May 26, while Naveen Jindal, who was media head of the BJP’s Delhi unit, had posted a tweet on June 1 about the Prophet. He deleted the tweet later.
On June 5, the BJP suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal after the diplomatic backlash.
On Friday, demonstrations took place in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, West Bengal, Hyderabad, Jharkhand, among others.
In Delhi, a large crowd protested outside the Jama Masjid, NDTV reported. However, the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid said that the mosque committee did not call for protest, according to ANI.
“We don’t know who are protesting,” the Imam said, according to ANI. “I think they belong to AIMIM [All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen] or are [Asaduddin] Owaisi’s people. We made it clear that if they want to protest, they can, but we will not support them.”
The Delhi Police said that the protestors were dispersed within 10-15 minutes.
“Almost 1,500 people had gathered in Jama Masjid for Friday prayers,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Shweta Chauhan said, according to ANI. “After the prayers, nearly 300 people came out and started to protest over inflammatory remarks by Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal.”
Chauhan further said that the protest was held on the street without any permission. “Legal action will be taken,” she said.
In Uttar Pradesh, protests broke out in Saharanpur, Moradabad and Prayagraj and other cities. Security has also been increased in Lucknow, Kanpur and Firozabad, according to NDTV.
Policemen were injured in Jharkhand’s Ranchi while trying to contain angry protestors near Hanuman Temple, PTI reported. Hundreds of protestors demanded that Sharma should be arrested for her remarks, the police said.
“We are looking into the situation,” a police official told the news agency. “We are reinforcing deployment.”
New Delhi has been trying to contain the fallout of the outrage across the world, saying the controversial comments had been made by “fringe elements” and they did not reflect the views of the Indian government. Scroll. In
