New Delhi (The Stellar News): On Friday, massive protests erupted in several parts of India against the disparaging remarks made by two Bhartiya Janata party spokespersons about Prophet Muhammad.
Many Muslim-majority countries have condemned India after Nupur Sharma made the remarks during a television debate on the on May 26 while Naveen Jindal, who was media head of the BJP’s Delhi unit, had posted a tweet on June 1 about the Prophet. He deleted the tweet later.
On June 5, the BJP suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal after the diplomatic backlash.
On Friday, demonstrations took place in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, West Bengal, Hyderabad, Jharkhand, among others.
In Delhi, a large crowd protested outside the Jama Masjid, NDTV reported. However, the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid said that the mosque committee did not call for protest, according to ANI.
“We don’t know who are protesting,” the Imam said, according to ANI. “I think they belong to AIMIM [All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen] or are [Asaduddin] Owaisi’s people. We made it clear that if they want to protest, they can, but we will not support them.”
The Delhi Police said that the protestors were dispersed within 10-15 minutes.
“Almost 1,500 people had gathered in Jama Masjid for Friday prayers,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Shweta Chauhan said, according to ANI. “After the prayers, nearly 300 people came out and started to protest over inflammatory remarks by Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal.”
