BJP suspends Nupur Sharma, Naveen Jindal from party's primary membership

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) banned Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal from the party's main membership on Sunday after their provocative statements against Prophet Muhammad sparked outrage. The development comes only hours after the BJP released a statement emphasising that the party "respects all religions" and "strongly condemns" insults to religious figures.

Nupur Sharma withdraws comments on Prophet Muhammad after suspension from BJP

While withdrawing her statement, Nupur Sharma took to Twitter and wrote: "I could not tolerate this continous insult and disrespect towards our Mahadev  and I said some things in response of it." Check out her full statement below

BJP releases press statement, says it respects all religious

The Bharatiya Janata Party released a press statement today in which it stated that the party respects all religions and is opposed to any ideology that degrades or demeans any sect or religion. This comment came after Islamists threatened BJP National Spokesperson Nupur Sharma for alleged blasphemy.

Also Read | BJP respects all religions, states party after spokesperson's remark on Prophet Muhammad

In the midst of a controversy over Nupur Sharma's remarks, BJP general secretary Arun Singh stated in a statement that the party is strongly opposed to any ideology that insults or demeans any sect or religion. According to him, the BJP does not support such people or ideologies. The statement, on the other hand, made no direct reference to any incident or comment.

It should be mentioned that Nupur Sharma allegedly made inflammatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad during a TV discussion, while Naveen Jindal allegedly published objectionable stuff against Islam on his Twitter profile.

Riots erupted in Kanpur earlier this week in response to Nupur Sharma's statements, injuring at least seven persons and causing property damage.

Nupur Sharma has also been named in other police cases in Maharashtra as a result of her remark. She has denied any wrongdoing and claims to have received death threats.

The BJP's clarification came on the same day as a wave of indignation in Arab countries over statements made by India's governing party's spokespersons erupted on social media, with trending hashtags and demands for a boycott of Indian products.

• Naveen Jindal
• Nupur Sharma
• BJP
• Hindu
• Muslim