Why Was Nupur Sharma Suspended From BJP? Controversy Explained Here

India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party or the BJP suspended its national spokesperson, Nupur Sharma before expelling its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jilaal for their derogatory comments against Prophet Muhammad, triggering the sentiments of Muslim communities. 

What Was The Case Against Nupur Sharma?

The member secretary of the Central Disciplinary Committee, adding that Sharma had violated the BJP constitution, Om Pathak said that Sharma’s views contradicted BJP’s stance on several matters. 

Nupur Sharma had allegedly made objectionable remarks against Prophet Muhammad during a television debate on an English channel regarding the Gyanvipi issue. The FIR case was registered on May 31 at Pune’s Kondhwa police station based on a complaint filed by a National Congress Party (NCP) leader. 

What was the controversial statement made by Nupur Sharma?

Sharma had made the remarks during a show about the Gyanvapi mosque Kashi Viswanath temple dispute on Times Now. Violence broke out in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh against Sharma’s remarks with videos on social media showing residents hurling stones at each other. According to reports, at least 40 persons including 20 police personnel were injured during the violence. The PTI reported that the police have arrested 24 persons. Even the Arab countries expressed their contempt over Sharma’s remarks on the prophet. An explanation for her remarks was sought by Deepak Mittal, the foreign minister of Qatar from India’s ambassador.  

“I could not tolerate this continuous insult and disrespect toward our Mahadev and I said some things in response to it. If my words have caused discomfort or hurt the religious feelings of anyone whatsoever, I hereby unconditionally withdraw my statement. It was never my intention to hurt anyone's religious feelings," Nupur Sharma said in her apology statement. She alleged that the figure of Mahadev, the Indian deity was ridiculed by comparing it to roadside signs and poles in Delhi.

Who Is Nupur Sharma?

Sharma is a 35-Year-old BJP Spokesperson, who hails from Delhi, India. She did her schooling at Hindu College of Delhi University and LLM in the London School of Economics. She is a practicing Supreme Court Lawyer and  Politician affiliated with BJP. As a lawyer, Sharma is known to take up cases with women's issues. She also worked as the youth ambassador of Teach for India.

Sharma has been active in politics since her college days at Delhi University. She was elected the President of the Delhi University Student’s Union (DUSU). In Bharatiya Janta Party, Sharma was picked for several roles such as Member Of BJP's Youth Wings' National Executive Committee, Yuva Morcha (BJYM), National Media Co-In Charge of BJYM, Member of State Executive Committee, etc. Since 2015, Sharma has been a BJP spokesperson and she also contested against Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Wala of Congress.

She was the Guest editor at 'The Times Of India' for the national daily special edition in 2009, and has been named 'One of the 10 Most Inspirational Women in the Country' by Hindustan Times, in the same year.

After her controversial statement against the Prophet, Sharma was trending on Twitter for a long time. Many of her critics demanded her immediate arrest and her supporters blamed co-founder of a fact-checking firm for incriminating Sharma. Some social media users crossed a line while criticising Sharma as the politician claimed that she got rape and death threats online.

What were some past Controversies involving Nupur Sharma?

Earlier, Sharma, under the same set of legal provisions, was booked under 295A, 153A and 505B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in Mumbai after a complaint by Raza Academy, a Sunni organisation of the Indian Sunni Muslims who had alleged that her remarks were derogatory toward the prophet on a national channel.

The case filed against Sharma was under sections 153A, 504, 505(2) and 506 of the IPC in Cybercrime Police Station in Hyderabad on a complaint by a police official. Sharma had allegedly used false, abusive and hurtful words against the Prophet and the religion of Islam which hurt the feelings of the Muslim people. 

On May 27, Sharma had alleged that she has been receiving death threats on social media after her heavily edited video from one of her recent debates on a TV channel about the Gyanvipi mosque case was circulated by a so-called “fact-checker.” 

Suggested Reading: Who Is Nupur Sharma? Politician Suspended By BJP Over Controversial Remarks

Saying that the "so-called fact-checker" had started to vilify the atmosphere by directing death threats at her when the heavily edited video was put out, Nupur told the ANI that she also received rape threats and beheading threats against her and her family members. Alleging that Alt News’ proprietor posted the edited video to promote trolls against her, Nupur said that he should be responsible if any harm befell her.