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How has the recent statements of Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal created problems for the party?
Never had BJP found the Muslim world breathing down its neck so hard than in the past few days. It started with Qatar handing over an official note to the Indian Ambassador Dr. Deepak Mittal and expressed anger over the comments on Prophet Muhammad in TV by Nupur Sharma. In chain reaction more countries from the Islamic regions from UAE, Kuwait to Indonesia joined in the protest. As the day passed it got more embarrassing for BJP to handle the fresh crisis.
We are aware while during one TV debate Nupur Sharma made an overboard statement about the Prophet Muhammad sahab. Although in her defense she admitted her mistake. In her defence she commented, “it is a natural reaction against more vitriolic speakers. Same was the case with Naveen Kumar Jindal.
The national media is full of mindless debates but this one was a shocker.
Even the OIC promptly condemned the remarks and demanded an apology from the Govt. of India. In result BJP had to condemn both the spokesperson’s narrative and disciplinary action was taken against both.
Will it be enough to douse the fire and how will the Hindu vote bank look at the event? It’s a situation not easy to wiggle out for the BJP.
India is one of the largest importers of oil from the middle east. Indian exports to UAE stands at $25.45 billion during 2021, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database. The Indian diaspora in the Gulf remits about USD 43billion from the UAE specifically according to a World Bank report. These are some the hard economics which BJP can hardly ignore.
To annoy the Hindu voters would be treading in dangerous waters. BJP’s principles since birth is built on the Hindu voters The new regime has already made solid efforts to consolidate and expand the Hindu vote base be it the ongoing construction of the Ram Temple, the abolition of Article 370 in Kashmir and its daily run-ins with the minority Muslim community. BJP guessed, with each passing days the controversy would mellow down domestically but it has travelled west in the Gulf region who has hidden contempt towards the BJP. “Government should be a referee, not an active player.”by Milton Friedman sharpens the debate where BJP will have to answer the Muslim world or be answerable to its Hindu vote bank. And with the elections coming up in Gujrat and Himachal Pradesh, well it is a tight and slippery rope to walk.
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Even the brilliant efforts by Prime Minister Modi to build personal rapport with the leaders in the Gulf would be put to test this time.
During the outcry by Muslim nations, the Ambassadors had to issue statements denying the vitriolic outburst linked to the official stand of Government of India. The apologies were a stand down for the aggressive approach in foreign policy of the BJP Government. Will it set a future course of our seeing a milder toned BJP missives rather than a hardcore somewhat annoying right wing stand. Perhaps , time will tell and the coming days will be an interesting watch for the political observers.