The BJP has suspended Nupur Sharma, its spokesperson, after her remarks for the duration of a television exhibit sparked a row and drew a large backlash from Gulf countries.
Ms Sharma later unconditionally withdrew the controversial announcement and stated in a statement posted on Twitter that it used to be never her intention to harm anyone’s spiritual feelings.
NDTV is not reproducing Ms Sharma’s remarks as they are offensive in nature.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Ms Sharma is an suggest with the aid of profession and a distinguished BJP leader. A law graduate from Delhi University, she carried out an LLM from the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2011.
Ms Sharma has been concerned in politics from her university days. She additionally labored 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 started out in 2008 when she was once elected as the president of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU), according to Australia-India Youth Dialogue.
She then worked with the BJP’s childhood wing.
Contested towards Arvind Kejriwal
Ms Sharma contested the 2015 Delhi elections towards Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi seat.
She, however, misplaced the election for the seat.
Controversial remarks
The BJP took action towards Ms Sharma after violence erupted in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur over her remarks. More than forty humans were injured and over 1,500 people charged in connection with the violence.
Countries in the Gulf area – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain – and Iran have strongly condemned the remarks. Qatar and Bahrain additionally summoned the Indian envoy and expressed their disappointment.
The two countries have, however, welcomed the BJP’s action in opposition to Ms Sharma.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, or OIC, condemned her remarks, announcing it came in a “context of intensifying hatred and abuse in the direction of Islam in India and systematic practices in opposition to Muslims”.
In response, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi “categorically rejected” OIC Secretariat’s unwarranted comments, calling them “narrow-minded”. The ministry additionally stated that the authorities of India accords the “highest admire to all religions”.
