Agencies-Gaza post
Young Modi Party leader arrested after anti-Muslim comments
Police in northern India on Wednesday arrested a young leader of the ruling Hindu nationalist party for posting anti-Muslim comments on social media following abusive remarks by another party official about Prophet Mohammed,
to diplomatic protests, according to officials.
Young leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP, Harshit Srivastava, was detained in Kanpur following sectarian tensions last week during a Muslim protest to condemn Islamophobic comments.
“We arrested the local politician for making statements inciting against Muslims,” senior police official Prashant Kumar said, adding that at least 50 people had been arrested following tensions in Kanpur.
No comment was received from Srivastava’s counsel.
Sporadic unrest was noted in other parts of India after BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma made offensive remarks to Prophet Mohammed during a television debate.
The party reported that its membership had been suspended while another speaker, Naveen Kumar Jindal, was fired for comments he made about Islam on social media.
Internal anger erupted new momentum after Islamic leaders demanded an apology from the Indian government and summoned diplomats to protest Islamophobic statements.
India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that the offensive tweets and comments did not in any way reflect the government’s views.
