New Delhi: Hours after being suspended by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for her remarks on Prophet Muhammad during a recent TV debate, party spokesperson Nupur Sharma on Sunday issued an apology stating it was never her “intention to hurt anyone’s religious feelings”. “I have been attending TV debates for the past many days where our Mahadev was being insulted and disrespected continuously,” Sharma wrote on Twitter.
“It was mockingly being said that it is not Shivling [at Gyanvapi mosque] but a fountain,” she added.
Sharma said the “Shivling was also being ridiculed by comparing it to roadside signs and poles in Delhi”.
ALSO READ: BJP Suspends Nupur Sharma, Naveen Jindal From Primary Membership
“I could not tolerate this continuous insult and disrespect towards our Mahadev and I said some things in response to it,” Sharma said.
“If my words have caused discomfort or hurt religious feelings of anyone whatsoever, I hereby unconditionally withdraw my statement. It was never my intention to hurt anyone's religious feelings,” she added.
Sharma further said there is a security threat to her family.
“I request all media houses and everybody else not to make my address public. There is a security threat to my family,” she tweeted.
The BJP had earlier distanced itself from the controversial comments allegedly made by Sharma against Prophet Mohammed.
Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Naveen Kumar Jindal, who was also suspended from the party’s primary membership, too issued a clarification.
“We respect the faith of all religions but the question was only from those mindset spreading hatred by using indecent comments on our deities. I just asked them a question. It does not mean that we are against any religion,” he tweeted in Hindi.
Jindal has been terminated from the BJP’s primary membership “for expressing thoughts communal disharmony on social media”, ANI reported.
The order to suspend Sharma and Jindal was issued by the BJP Central Disciplinary Committee.