Islamophobia’s Celebration: From the European Right to the Indian Ruling Party

On May 26, Sharma made comments during a televised debate on an Indian news channel about the Prophet Mohammed that were widely deemed offensive and Islamophobic.

Nupur Sharma, now suspended, is the national spokesperson for the BJP—the party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP said on June 5 that it had suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal from the party. But its move to suspend its spokesperson failed to stop the controversy from escalating beyond India's borders.

 

Alt-Right Solidarity

The far-right Dutch politician, known for his outspoken hostility to Muslims, Geert Wilders, tweeted against Muslim countries that took a stand condemning the abuse of officials from the ruling Indian Party of the Prophet Muhammad, expressing support for those Hindu officials and encouraging them to offend Islam "fearlessly."

Wilders expressed his extremist views through several tweets on his Twitter account, calling Muslims "hypocrites" and "terrorists" and attaching offensive language to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Wilders urged the Indian government to stand by The Bharatiya Janata Party's Hindu spokeswoman, Nupur Sharma after she was dismissed during angry reactions to her offensive remarks to the Messenger of Islam.

Wilders criticized the Indian government's attempt to contain Arab and Islamic anger, saying that a "truce will never work, and will only make things worse."

"It is absurd for Arab and Muslim countries to be angry with Indian politician Nupur Sharma for telling the truth about the Prophet Muhammad," Wilders said in his tweets. “Why would India apologize?"

Wilders attacked Muslim countries in another tweet, saying to India, "Don't hear the hypocrites, Muslim countries have no democracy, no rule of law, no freedom, they persecute minorities and do not respect human rights, they must be criticized!"

While Wilders attacked the Holy Prophet of Islam, he praised Sharma as a hero, saying that "Muhammad's ideology is offensive, and the heroine Nupur Sharma is not."

"Never bow to terrorists," he told the Indian government.

Dutch far-right Geert Wilders had earlier pledged during his election campaign in the Dutch parliament to establish a ministry of de-Islamification and to define Islam as a "totalitarian ideology."

On its official website, the Freedom Party, headed by extremist Wilders, published its 2021-2025 electoral program, which included the establishment of a ministry of immigration, the repatriation of refugees, and the cleansing of Islam.

He also pledged not to receive asylum seekers, and Muslim immigrants, ban mosques and Islamic schools and prevent the spread of Islamic thought.

The electoral program also included the application of the ban on the wearing of headscarves in public places.

 

Not Anomalies

Indian writer Apoorvanand wrote an article in which he said that the BJP has always had a hatred approach to Islam.

“First of all, Sharma and Jindal can hardly be described as 'fringe elements' within the party. After all, prior to the incident, they both held high-ranking positions within the BJP—positions that allowed them to speak for the governing party and communicate its policies and strategies to the nation,” Apoorvanand wrote.

“Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, it is difficult to argue that their Islamophobic views do not represent the government of India when none of the BJP’s leaders came out to issue a strong apology and the party’s Islamophobic policies, actions, and statements are already well documented,” he added.

Islamophobia has long been an integral part of the BJP's political strategy. In the not-too-distant past, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attempted to draw parallels between Muslim figures from India's distant past and current-day "terrorism and religious extremism" in two public speeches, implying that India's Muslims should be held accountable and punished for the alleged crimes committed by their "ancestors."

He received no retaliation from the party for his openly Islamophobic remarks, moreover, during the 2015 state assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh's BJP-aligned chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, made anti-Muslim remarks.

“In one such speech, he mocked Muslims and said he sees the state elections as a battle between the 80 percent [the percentage of Hindus in the state] and the 20 percent [the percentage of Muslims],” Apoorvanand mentioned.

Several initiatives have been launched under the BJP's control to guarantee that mosques and other Muslim holy sites across the country are given over to Hindus who argue that these sites were originally Hindu

For example, there are currently movements underway to convert the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, the Jamia Mosque in Srirangapatna, and the Qutub Minar in New Delhi—among others—to Hindus.

“Those remarks were not missteps by 'fringe elements' within the governing party or mistakes by a few low-ranking staffers, but an accurate reflection of the BJP’s views on and attitudes towards Muslims and Islam,” Apoorvanand concluded.

 

Not Freedom of Speech

In 2018, The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the abuse of the Prophet Muhammad does not fall within the framework of freedom of expression.

The decision was in support of a ruling in Austria against a 47-year-old Austrian woman who was fined 480 euros by regional courts, in addition to litigation for insulting the Prophet Muhammad in 2009.

In a statement on its website, the court said that the criminal conviction against an Austrian woman who made offensive remarks to the prophet and fined her 480 euros "does not violate her right to freedom of expression."

"The court found that the local courts [in Austria] struck a delicate balance between women's right to freedom of expression and the right of others to protect their religious feelings and to maintain religious peace in Austria."

The court considered that the woman's statements "exceeded the limit allowed in the debate, are classified as an offensive attack on the Messenger of Islam and endanger religious peace."

The incident began in 2009 when the Austrian woman held two seminars during which she spoke about the marriages of the Prophet, in which she made offensive statements to the Prophet.

On February 15, 2011, the Vienna Regional Criminal Court found the remarks to "insult religious beliefs" and upheld the decision by the Court of Appeal in December of the same year, after the woman appealed the verdict.