India’s Ruling Party Spokespeople Insulted Prophet Muhammad, Not Modi

The Misbar team investigated the claim and found it to be misleading. The insulting remarks about the Prophet Muhammad were made by two members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, not by Modi.

Comments Insulting the Prophet Muhammad

Reviewing credible news sources revealed that the comments about the Prophet Muhammad were made by two of the BJP's spokespeople, not Modi. Nupur Sharma made the remarks during a recent television debate, and the BJP's Delhi media operation head Naveen Kumar Jindal Jindal sent a derogatory tweet about the Prophet, which has since been deleted; both have been suspended from the party. Following the comments, the BJP has faced a massive backlash and protests from both locals and foreign governments, affecting their diplomatic relations.

Rising Islamophobia is hurting India's foreign policy, where officials from the ruling party BJP have been targeting Muslims at an increasing rate, either through bigotry or calling for violence, as shown below.

Photo Description: An increase in hate speech towards Muslims from Indian officials.

India’s Diplomatic Relations Unstable

At least 18 countries, including Indonesia, the UAE, the Maldives, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Afghanistan, and Turkey, condemned and protested the comments to varying degrees.  Some nations canceled events with Indian officials, while others summoned Indian ambassadors and others issued statements with strong language. Indian products were boycotted in Kuwait, and Modi's photos were seen printed with a footprint on them and stuck to garbage cans, as seen below.

Photo Description: Kuwait garbage bins with Modi’s image and a shoe print over it.

As can be seen in the photo below, Qatar showed its support for the Prophet by lighting the buildings in Arabic text.

U.S Secretary Blinken also mentioned the 'rising attacks on people, places of worship' in India for the second time in two months, most recently at the release of the state department’s annual report on international religious freedom. The report also highlights “attacks on members of religious minority communities, including killings, assaults, and intimidation,” and that most of the incidents reported were in BJP ruled states. In addition, the Haridwar Dharma Sansad and militant Hindutva leader Yati Narsinghanand incident was reported, in which the Hindu leader called for a war against Muslims.

Previously, Gregory Stanton, President of Genocide Watch, who predicted the Rwandan Genocide, stated that unless action is taken, a similar situation is brewing in India.

Response from Indian Officials

The BJP has responded by suspending the two perpetrators as well as releasing a blanket statement that says the BJP “respects all religions,” and that their party “strongly denounces insults of any religious personalities of any religion.” The full statement can be seen below.