Religion Extremism is threat for India
Nupur Sharma: Controversy over Prophet Muhammad undermines India-Arab relations India has been forced to place its partners in the Islamic world after growing anger confusing ideas made by two members of the ruling party about Prophet Muhammad.
Nupur Sharma, a former official spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), did the words of a television debate, when Naveen Jindal, the former head of news for the group Delhi Unit, tweeted on the matter. Comments - especially by Ms Sharma - angered a number of Muslim countries, which led to periodic protests by others he says.
The two leaders issued public apologies and the party suspended Ms Sharma once fired Mr Jindal. The BJP strongly condemns the blasphemy of any religion. BJP is and against any ideology that undermines or belittles any denomination or religion. BJP does not encourage such people or philosophy, "the statement said.
But experts say this may not be enough after it looks like an internal issue took international opportunity - Kuwait, Qatar and Iran called on Indian ambassadors to register protest on Sunday. Saudi Arabia has also criticized the allegations on Monday. Qatar said it was awaiting a public apology from India.
"Allowing such hate speech against Islamophobia to go unpunished," the grave said risk to human rights protection and may lead to further discrimination as well discrimination, which will create a cycle of violence and hatred, "the Qatari Foreign Ministry said the news.
Saudi Arabia also used strong words in its statement. “Department of Foreign Affairs expressed criticism and criticism of the statements made by this female spokesperson of the Indian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), insulting Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and he confirms his permanent rejection of prejudice
"Islamic symbols, as well as all religious symbols and symbols," he said. The Indian ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, said the remarks came from other "edge sections"did not represent the views of the Indian government. Top BJP leaders and others and ambassadors also criticized the noisy statement.
But analysts say a high level of party and government leadership may be needed public statements on the matter. Failure to do so, they say, puts it at risk of damaging Indian relations and these countries. Much is at stake
Indian trade with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and the UAE, stand at $ 87 billion by 2020-21. Millions of Indians live and operate in these countries and send millions of dollars in remittances. I region and is also the highest source of energy imports in India.
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has been visiting the region regularly since his arrival power in 2014. The country has already signed a free trade agreement with the UAE again in discussions with the GCC on a comprehensive agreement.
Mr. Modi attended the first Hindu temple construction ceremony in Abu Dhabi 2018 - cited as an example of the growing relations between India and the country region. While Delhi's relationship with Tehran has not been warm in the past few years, The dispute is likely to end with Iran's foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian visit India.
Former Indian strategist Anil Trigunayat, who worked in the Arab world, said India he was in a difficult situation and only honest efforts at the leadership level could prevent a wrong fall. “Exemplary steps must be taken under the law so that these structures do not repeat themselves and create chaos in the community and tarnish the image of the country, ”he said.
Some analysts say that the political costs resulting from this decline could seriously hurt India's interests region. "Indian officials often respond defensively when foreign officials, including close friends in New Delhi, they criticized Indian domestic news. But in this case, expect Indian politicians to work immediately to ease the tension by apologizing and other ways to control the damage, ”says Michael
Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at Wilson Center tank-tank. Arab nations are also looking to take drastic measures to reduce resentment among themselves people. Hashtags are criticizing India for the trend in these countries and the incident took place it has been the leading story in their news channels.Some of these hashtags have asked to boycott Indian products. There has been it again reports of some stores in Qatar and Kuwait releasing Indian products on their shelves.
Mr Kugelman said relations were important to both the GCC and India and both sides will be looking to reduce risk. "As Delhi is concerned he must be about this angry response from the strategist regionally, India is also protected from further damage by its resilience. Because of them economic interests, Gulf regions need India to continue to import its power, it needs Indians in order to continue living and working there, and overall, they need to continue to do business in India, "he said.
He added that there may be restrictions on how far these countries will go in responding these comments are anti-Muslim. Increased polarization Critics say religious divisions have increased in India since the inception of the BJP 2014. And the past few weeks have been particularly tense after some Hindu groups went a local court in Varanasi to ask permission to pray in a mosque is hundreds of years old, they said it is built on the ruins of a ruined temple.
TV stations have had provocative debates and social media has seen widespread hatred issue. Many people associated with right-wing organizations tend to argue statements on TV programs, but critics say Ms. Sharma was not "as strange" as the BJP. you have caused. He was the party's official spokesman, appointed to represent the party BJP Ideas. Analysts add that international disagreement on the issue should be escalating India.
“Delhi learns that when it comes to the politics of a bad world, what occurs in India usually does not live in India. As the world power in India grows with its diplomatic and economic cooperation abroad is stronger, it becomes more vulnerable if it happens domestic politics creates unhappiness abroad, "said Mr Kugelman