Tension in India over ruling party leader’s comments on Islam

Tensions between India’s ruling right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Muslim communities have been fueled by the BJP spokesperson’s remarks about the Prophet Muhammad and Islam while debating about Gyanvapi Mosque issue, a dispute over an old mosque was built on the ruins of a temple. 

The situation escalated when BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s comments about Islam went viral in India after Mohammed Zubair, co- founder of fact-checking website AltNews, posted clips on Times Now channel on May 27.

Afterwards, Sharma tweeted that she had received rape and beheading threats against her and her family. She mentioned the Commissioner of Delhi Police in the tweet and said, “please note wholly & solely Mohammed Zubair is responsible who instead of ‘fact-checking’ peddled a fake-narrative to vitiate the atmosphere, cause communal disharmony & cause communal & targeted hatred against me & my family.”

A first information report (FIR) was issued by Delhi police accusing Sharma of using “abusive, false and hurtful” words against the Prophet Muhammad and Islam. MP Asaduddin Owaisi, president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, posted a copy of the FIR with the caption “FIR has been registered against BJP spokesperson who insulted Prophet Mohammed PBUH.”

Sharma appeared in an interview with OpIndia on May 31, defending herself and affirming that her words have been taken out of the context by Zubair. She said that she is facing something bigger than her own case. “This is not just me, not about me, it’s about upholding our rights to free speech,” she asserted in the interview.

Relations between Muslims and the BJP were already on edge. Early in February, an official account of the party had posted a cartoon featuring a group of Muslim men hung by a noose. The tweet was removed by Twitter for violating community guidelines. Furthermore, the BJP- led government has banned girls from attending school wearing hijabs, triggering many Muslims to protest.