‘Unwarranted And Narrow-Minded,’ India Reacts To OIC's Statement Amid Prophet Muhammad Controversy

The government stated it is regrettable that OIC Secretariat has yet again chosen to make motivated, misleading and mischievous comments

New Delhi: India has categorically rejected the statement by the General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Monday as 'unwarranted and narrow-minded' comments and reiterated its stance that India accords the highest respect to all religions. In response to the OIC statement, ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “The offensive tweets and comments denigrating a religious personality were made by certain individuals. They do not, in any manner, reflect the views of the Government of India. Strong action has already been taken against these individuals by relevant bodies.”

The government stated it is regrettable that OIC Secretariat has yet again chosen to make motivated, misleading, and mischievous comments. “This only exposes its divisive agenda being pursued at the behest of vested interests,” it noted.

The government urged the OIC Secretariat to stop pursuing its communal approach and show due respect to all faiths and religions.

The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) raised concerns against the "systematic harassment of minorities in India" on Sunday. India conveyed to Qatar and Kuwait that it had taken strong action against those who made controversial remarks on Twitter against the minorities.

The controversial remarks have caused anger among Arab nations, including Qatar, Kuwait, and Iran. Saudi Arabia also joined the list of nations by issuing official notes to India amid the controversy.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday suspended Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal from the party’s primary membership. The order in this regard was issued by the BJP Central Disciplinary Committee. Jindal has been terminated from the BJP’s primary membership “for expressing thoughts of communal disharmony on social media”, ANI reported.

The ruling party had already distanced itself from the controversial comments allegedly made by Sharma against Prophet Mohammed. BJP national general secretary Arun Singh in a statement said the party is strongly against any ideology, which insults or demeans any sect or religion.

After the action, Sharma unconditionally withdrew her controversial statement made in the TV debate and claimed that her comments were a reaction to “continuous insult and disrespect towards our Mahadev”‘ (Lord Shiva). Both the leaders said it was never their intention to hurt anyone’s religious feelings.

Jindal who had also posted objectionable tweets, deleted later, has been accused of often posting inciting comments. After BJP's decision, he responded by saying he had tweeted asking a question to those attacking and insulting Hindu deities and it was not aimed at hurting the religious sentiments of any community.