One after other Gulf nations have been summoning Indian diplomats expressing their strong protest and condemnation against comments on Prophet Mohammed, made by two spokespersons of the BJP, who were suspended from the party last evening.
Saudi Arabia has now joined in the backlash against comments with Qatar, Iran and Kuwait, who had earlier summoned India’s Ambassadors and the key Gulf nations expressed their strong protest and condemnation.
The BJP had suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal as the row over their alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad escalated with protests from some Muslim countries.
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Qatar and Kuwait summoned the Indian ambassadors and handed over to them protest notes on what the Gulf countries called categorical “rejection and condemnation” of the controversial remarks of the BJP leader against Prophet Muhammad.
The foreign ministries of the two Gulf countries welcomed the statement issued by the ruling party in India in which it announced the suspension of the leader.
Meanwhile, super markets in these countries are avoiding keeping Indian goods following calls emerged on social media across several nations for a boycott of Indian products.Incidentally, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu is currently on an official visit to Qatar.
The Indian Ambassador in Qatar said in a tweet that the controversial tweets do not, in any manner, reflect the views of the government of India. “These are the views of fringe elements,” the Indian Embassy said.
With its members’ comments stoking protests in the country, including violence in Kanpur, and causing ripples abroad, the BJP swung into action to control the damage as it tried to assuage the concerns of minorities and distanced itself from these members.
The controversy also comes at a time when the BJP is reaching out to several countries through a campaign called “to know BJP”. The party has been calling top envoys from several countries to its headquarters in an attempt to help them “understand the party” and its ideology.
Sources said such meetings have been held with envoys from some of the countries in the Gulf region, and that many more are expected in the coming rounds.
India’s strong economic ties with Gulf
Indians are the largest expatriate population in many of the Gulf nations, with official data showing that nearly 6.5 million Indians live in the region. Besides being dependent on crude oil and gas, India enjoys trading relations with many of the countries in the region.
Among five top countries India is having trade relations, three are from Gulf region, only after USA and China. According to India’s Embassy in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) — which is headquartered in Riyadh and includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE — has “tremendous significance for India”.
In 2020-2021, the total value of India’s trade with GCC nations was worth over US $87 billion, which included total imports worth nearly US $60 billion. The total bilateral two-way trade in 2020-2021 saw a growth of nearly 27 per cent over the previous year.
The importance of the region for India can also be gauged by the fact that in his first international visit in 2022, Prime Minister Modi visited UAE and Kuwait in January. Modi has been a regular visitor to the region, having visited many of the countries several times since 2014.
Swamy takes dig at Modi government
BJP’s former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy on Sunday took a dig at the Centre’s Narendra Modi government after the country’s embassy in Qatar described Nupur Sharma as a ‘fringe element.’
Mocking the statement of the Indian ambassador, Swamy tweeted, “That Nupur is a fringe element while as party Spokesperson!!!” He added, “With Jaishankar as EAM what do you expect? Who sent our Ambassador in Qatar the text to read from?”
Pakistan, too, reacted angrily, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemning the “hurtful comments”. “Have said it repeatedly India under Modi is trampling religious freedoms & persecuting Muslims… World should take note & severely reprimand India,” he tweeted.
A statement released later by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “BJP’s attempted clarification and belated and perfunctory disciplinary action against these individuals cannot assuage the pain and anguish they have caused to the Muslim world.”
