The United States government has condemned the incendiary remarks against Prophet Mohammad by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma, as it urged India to “promote respect for human rights”.
“We condemn the offensive comments made by two BJP officials, and we were glad to see that the party publicly condemned those comments. We regularly engage with the Indian Government at senior levels on human rights concerns, including freedom of religion or belief, and we encourage India to promote respect for human rights,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said at a press briefing on Thursday.
The US official was responding to a question about the protests by Indian Muslims against Sharma’s remarks and the subsequent crackdown by Indian authorities against the demonstrators, including the bulldozing of their homes in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Besides suspending Sharma from the party, Prime Minister Modi's BJP has also expelled another functionary, Naveen Kumar Jindal, for a derogatory tweet against the Prophet.
Price also recalled that US State Secretary Antony Blinken had taken up the matter of human rights with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar when the former visited New Delhi last July.
“The Secretary said when he was last in New Delhi, last year, that the Indian people and the American people, we believe in the same values: human dignity, human respect, equality of opportunity, and the freedom of religion or belief. These are fundamental tenets, these are fundamental values within any democracy, and we speak up for them around the world,” he remarked.
Blinken’s observations regarding India’s human rights track record were made at a joint press briefing with Jaishankar.
In response, the Indian External Affairs Minister had said that a “quest for a more perfect union applies as much to the Indian democracy as it does to the American one”.
In April this year, Blinken again stated at the India-US 2+2 Dialogue in Washington that the Biden administration was "monitoring some recent concerning developments" in India, which he said included a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police, and prison officials.
The remarks Sharma made during a live TV debate on 26 May have provoked the ire of the Muslim countries, with more than 15 countries, including Qatar, Baharain, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia and Pakistan, registering diplomatic protests over the comments.
Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the comments by the now-suspended BJP spokesperson “do not reflect the views of the (Indian Government)”.
The Indian missions in Qatar and Kuwait have said in separate statements that Sharma’s views represent those of “the fringe elements”.
During his maiden visit to New Delhi last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also urged in his meetings with the Indian officials that they should work towards respecting the “sensitivities” of Muslims.
The BJP suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal from the party after the diplomatic row broke out.
In a statement on 5 June, the BJP's General Secretary Arun Singh clarified that the party was "strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion".
Muslim groups and individuals are now demanding the arrest of Sharma and Jindal over the remarks. Both individuals are facing charges of “inciting” religious enmity under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in several states.