New Delhi: India’s government sought on Monday to calm anger at home and abroad after two officials of the ruling BJP party made remarks about the Prophet Mohammed, with 38 people arrested for rioting in a northern city and a protest planned later in Mumbai.
The arrests in the city of Kanpur were part of an effort to quell sporadic religious tension that arose after two officials from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party made remarks that have generated widespread anger among Muslims in India and overseas.
Some of India’s top officials were engaged in managing the diplomatic fallout as nations including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran demanded an apology from the government for allowing the derogatory remarks, an Indian foreign ministry official said.
Over the weekend, Indian diplomats stationed in the Gulf and neighbouring Islamic nations were summoned by officials in those countries to protest against the comments by BJP officials.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in a statement, said: “These insults come in the context of the increasing intensity in hatred of and insults to Islam in India and the systematic harassment of Muslims.”
India’s foreign ministry said in a statement the offensive tweets and comments did not, in any way, reflect the views of the government.
“Strong action has already been taken against these individuals by relevant bodies…It is regrettable that OIC Secretariat has yet again chosen to make motivated, misleading and mischievous comments,” said Arindam Bagchi, a government spokesperson.
The BJP suspended a spokesperson and expelled another official on Sunday for hurting religious sentiments of a minority community.
Muslims make up around 13% of India’s 1.35 billion people. Protests were planned against the anti-Muslim remarks in the financial capital Mumbai on Monday.
