Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia (R) hit out at PM Modi over the remarks made against the Prophet by BJP leaders. (File)The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Qatar, Kuwait and Iran summoned India’s ambassadors to their countries over BJP leaders’ derogatory references to Islam and Prophet Mohammad.
“These small countries have gathered the courage to challenge a great country like India. This is what Modi ji and BJP have done. Today, every Indian is pained, this is extremely distressing,” tweeted Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal retweeted Sisodia’s statement.
इतने छोटे छोटे देशों की भारत जैसे महान देश को आँखें दिखाने की हिम्मत हो गयी?
मोदी जी और भाजपा ने देश का क्या हाल कर दिया। आज हर भारतवासी बेहद पीड़ित है, दुःख की सीमा नहीं।
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— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) June 6, 2022
BJP’s national spokesperson Nupur Sharma was suspended and the party’s Delhi unit media head Naveen Kumar Jindal was removed from the party’s primary membership and suspended in the wake of the controversy over their comments.
BJP general secretary Arun Singh had in a statement on Sunday said that the party “respects all religions”. He did not name Sharma or Jindal. “The BJP strongly denounces insults of any religious personalities of any religion. The Bharatiya Janata Party is also against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion. The BJP does not promote such people or philosophy… During the thousands of years of the history of India every religion has blossomed and flourished. The Bharatiya Janata Party respects all religions,” the statement said.
Conveying the action taken by the party to Nupur Sharma, the member secretary of BJP’s central disciplinary committee Om Pathak said in a letter, “You have expressed views contrary to the party’s position on various matters, which is in clear violation of Rule 10 (a) of the Constitution of the Bharatiya Janata Party. I have been directed to convey to you that pending further inquiry, you are suspended from the party and from your responsibilities/ assignments if any, with immediate effect.”
Following the disciplinary action, Sharma issued an apology and withdrew her remarks “unconditionally”.
BJP’s Delhi unit president Adesh Gupta, meanwhile, wrote to Jindal that the view expressed by him “on social media to incite communal harmony is against the basic thought of the party”. “You worked against party ideology and policy. Therefore, your primary membership of the party is cancelled with immediate effect, and you are also suspended from the party,” he said in the letter.
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