The Bharatiya Janata Party may have taken action against Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, but the protests in Arab countries are not taking the name of stopping. Indian products are being boycotted in Kuwait. Indian products were labeled Islamophobic in Arabia. At the same time, Al Jazeera has written that a diplomatic storm has come against the ruling party of India.
In a video posted by Arab News, workers of the Al Ardiya Co-Operative Society at a superstore in Kuwait City are seen taking Indian tea and other products off their shelves, terming it Islamophobic. At the same time, workers are seen condemning the remarks of BJP leaders. Nasser Al-Mutari, CEO of Superstore said, “We boycotted Indian products because of insult to the Prophet. We Kuwaiti Muslims do not accept insults to the Prophet.”
There have been several calls for boycott of Indian products in many parts of Gulf countries and hashtags criticizing the Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were on top of social media in many countries. Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued statements against the remarks. Bahrain also commented on the controversy, but lauded the action taken by the BJP against both its leaders.
On the controversy, the newspaper Al Jazeera writes, “An international diplomatic storm has engulfed India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The party has taken action against two spokespersons of the party for derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad. The comments have been blamed for the conflict in an Indian state and calls for the arrest of the spokesperson in India.”
Leaders of Muslim organizations and many parties in India have demanded the arrest of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Asaduddin Owaisi has also demanded arrest. At the same time, Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind has welcomed the action taken by the BJP and expressed hope of action against the leaders.