Protestors shout slogans and burn a picture of Nupur Sharma, the spokeswoman of India's Bharatiya Janata Party during a demonstration against her remarks about Prophet Mohammed in Karachi, Pakistan on June 7, 2022. (ARIF ALI / AFP)
LUCKNOW – Police in northern India arrested a youth leader from the Hindu nationalist ruling party for posting anti-Muslim comments on social media after derogatory remarks by another party official about the Prophet Mohammad led to a diplomatic furor, officials said on Wednesday.
Harshit Srivastava, a youth leader from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, was arrested in Kanpur city following communal tensions last week during a protest by Muslims to denounce the anti-Islam comments.
India's foreign ministry said on Monday the offensive tweets and comments did not in any way reflect the government's views
"We arrested the local politician for making inflammatory remarks against Muslims," said Prashant Kumar, a senior police official, adding that at least 50 people were taken into custody following the tensions in Kanpur.
Srivastava's lawyer was not available for comments.
Sporadic unrest was reported in other parts of the country after the comments against the Prophet by BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma during a television debate.
She has been suspended from the party while another spokesman, Naveen Kumar Jindal, was expelled over comments he made about Islam on social media, the BJP has said.
Domestic outrage gained fresh momentum after leaders from Islamic nations such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan demanded apologies from the Indian government and summoned diplomats to protest against the anti-Islam remarks.
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The influential 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said in a statement that the insults came in the context of an increasingly intense atmosphere of hatred toward Islam in India and systematic harassment of Muslims.
India's foreign ministry said on Monday the offensive tweets and comments did not in any way reflect the government's views.
The controversy has become a diplomatic challenge for Modi who in recent years has cemented strong ties with energy-rich Islamic nations.
Instructions have been issued to several members of his Hindu nationalist party to be "extremely cautious" when talking about religion on public platforms.
Members of Islamic rights group in India said that it was the first time influential foreign leaders had spoken out against what they called the humiliation experienced by the minority community.
"Our voices have finally been heard, only world leaders can nudge Modi's government and his party to change their attitude towards Muslims," said Ali Asghar Mohammed, who runs a voluntary rights group for Muslims in Mumbai city.
Protestors shout anti-India slogans during a demonstration against the remarks about Prophet Mohammed made by an official of India's ruling party, in Karachi, Pakistan on June 7, 2022. (ARIF ALI / AFP)
India's minority Muslims have felt more pressure on everything from freedom of worship to hijab head scarves under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP. There were Hindu-Muslim clashes during religious processions recently, following deadly riots in 2019-20.
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The controversy has become a diplomatic challenge for Modi who in recent years has cemented strong ties with energy-rich Islamic nations
"We don't want party officials to speak in a way that hurts the religious sentiments of any community…They must ensure the party's doctrine gets shared in a sophisticated manner," said a senior BJP leader and federal minister in New Delhi.
With about 110 million members, mainly Hindus, the BJP is the world's largest political party, while Muslims comprise around 13 percent of India's 1.35 billion population.
Although Modi's party has denied any rise in communal tensions during his reign, BJP rule has emboldened hardline Hindu groups in recent years to take up causes that they say defend their faith, stoking a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment.
The US State Department, in an annual report on international religious freedom released in June, said that attacks on members of minority communities, including killings, assaults, and intimidation, took place in India throughout 2021.
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"We are not barred from speaking on sensitive religious issues, but we must never insult the basic tenets of any religion," said senior BJP spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal.
Small-scale protests erupted in parts of India as Muslim groups demanded the arrest of the suspended BJP spokeswoman.