After Iran and Kuwait, Saudi Arabia slams remarks made by Nupur Sharma against Prophet Muhammad

Jumping on the bandwagon, Saudi Arabia too spoke out against the remarks made by former Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma, who made a controversial comment about Prophet Muhammad. Saudi also welcomed BJP’s decision to suspend Sharma over the remarks.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry, led by Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al-Saud, issued an official statement on social media, condemning Nupur Sharma’s statement and calling for respect for beliefs and religion.

Saudi’s official stance on the controversy reads, “The Ministry of Foreign affairs expresses its condemnation and denunciation of the statements made by the spokeswoman of India’s ruling Bhartiya Janta Party, insulting Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, and reaffirms its permanent rejection of prejudice against the symbols of Islamic religion and refuses to prejudice all religious figures and symbols.”

The statement further reads, “The Ministry also welcomes the action taken by the BJP to suspend the spokeswoman from work, and the ministry reiterates the kingdom’s position calling for respect for beliefs and religion.”

This comes just hours after other Gulf countries such as Iran, Kuwait and Qatar slammed the comments made by Sharma about Prophet Muhammad. The three countries also summoned the envoy from India to lodge a complaint amid the controversy.

BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma had made a controversial remark on Prophet Muhammad during a television debate on the vexed Gyanvapi mosque controversy, triggering a massive outrage by the Islamic community.

Without naming anyone, the BJP had said it believes in respecting all religions. General Secretary Arun Singh said the party was against any ideology that demeans other religions. “The Bharatiya Janata Party respects all religions. The BJP strongly denounces insults of any religious personalities of any religion,” he wrote in a statement.

Later, BJP suspended Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal from the party in the midst of the brewing controversy. Several FIRs were filed against Sharma after comments made during a TV debate. The comments drew sharp criticism from Qatar and Kuwait, who demanded a public apology for the matter.