British MP faces backlash over Twitter jibe about Muslims in India
Naz Shah, a British Labour party MP has been at the receiving end on social media for her 'fearmongering' over, what she termed as rising Islamophobia under the Narendra Modi government.
FollowNaz Shah, a British Labour party MP has been at the receiving end on social media for her 'fearmongering' over, what she termed as rising Islamophobia under the Narendra Modi government.Â
Naz, the Member of the UK Parliament from Bradford West, took to Twitter two days ago and urged British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was travelling to India that their foreign relations must not just be based on trade and internationalism but also on human rights.Â
She said that the rising tide of everyday hate and mob lynching against Muslims in India is becoming worrying and that Muslims being beaten, threatened with rape and lynched has become a norm in India. She also invoked the issue of human rights in Kashmir.
Stating that the UK prides itself on human rights and that successive British governments have worked to protect the rights of women and girls worldwide, Naz said that remaining silent while the minority population in India is being persecuted and Muslim women are at the centre of such hate, would amount to cowardice.Â
However, Boris -- the Conservative party Prime Minister on his maiden visit to India -- said that the country had 'constitutional protections' for communities.
Commenting on the British MP's tirade over Twitter, BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla hit back. He said, "I am an Indian Muslim. The youngest spokesperson of the BJP. (I am) proud to be born in India more than any other country. Not that it is any of your business to lecture my country about human rights given the track record of anti-semitism you have."
"You have no locus on what is an internal and integral part of India but perhaps Naz Shah would like to tell us about atrocities done by Pakistan and ISI on Kashmiris in Pak-occupied Kashmir, which is anything but Azad! But Naz will not speak up," he said.
Other Twitter users too lashed out at the British MP.
Some users urged the Bradford West MP that the UK should first fix problems in its own backyard. The number of stabbings that are happening in London and the number of no-go areas in the country especially in Birmingham.
