Daily Times

Suspending Bharatiya Jannata Party’s spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal might not do much to placate the uproar across the Muslim world over distasteful remarks about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Saudi Arabia is the latest to join the diplomatic storm charging towards Indian waters as ambassadors have already been summoned in Kuwait and Qatar.

Pakistan too has issued a strongly-worded demarche, condemning the “highly derogatory remarks” for hurting the “sentiments of…billions of Muslims around the world.” Boycott calls can also be heard getting louder in all corners while social media warriors are sharpening their knives to poke holes in India’s claim of being a secular country. More intriguing than the international wave of anger has been New Delhi’s response.

By coming forward with an instantaneous (some might say, knee-jerk) press release that pinpoints how “during the thousands of years of the history of India, every religion has blossomed and flourished,” it can easily be seen that the ruling party has set its priorities. The international price is far too hefty for some vote-winning gimmicks and intimidation techniques.

For years, their spokespersons have continued to trample upon the fundamental freedoms of the Muslim community on the shoulders of state-sanctioned impunity. May it be Sulli Deals or Love Jehad, chaotic bedlam over Ayodhya or climatic battle scenes outside schools in Karnataka, Indian Muslims have had to choose between their faith and survival on numerous occasions. Interestingly, this time their bigoted demons have sabotaged the commercial interests.

Considering an imaginably large ex-pat population in the Arab world and the repercussions of Kuwaiti supermarkets pulling its products, the Modi Sarkar is well on its way to devising some damage control. Indian embassies casually throwing the “fringe elements” buzzword and the government distancing itself from the BJP narrative might have done the trick if credible bodies like US Commission on International Religious Freedom had not been sounding the communal alarm for three years.

To Mr Modi’s great misfortune, many of his rich friends cannot stomach such a blatantly Islamophobic discourse no matter how mesmerising Incredible India may appear. It may be one thing to strangle over two billion Muslims living in his backyard using the tentacles of a Hindu-nationalist agenda. Trying to take a hate-inducing bite far bigger than you can munch is a different story altogether. *