MUMBAI: Indian politician from Modi’s party detained after Holy Prophet remark.
Indian police arrested a state lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party on Tuesday on suspicion of “promoting enmity in the name of religion” after Muslim groups demanded his arrest for his comments about the Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
The detention of T Raja Singh, a lawmaker in the southern state of Telangana, comes months after his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suspended a spokesperson for her remarks on the Holy Prophet (PBUH) that had led to a diplomatic backlash against India.
“He has been charged with promoting enmity in the name of religion,” Joel Davis, a senior police official in Hyderabad city, told Reuters.
“We have detained him and we will arrest him. This is about the recent video that he posted.”
In the video, available on social media, Singh, and in an apparent reference to the Holy Prophet (PBUH), said an elderly man had married a girl decades his junior.
Singh could not be reached for comment.
The Hindu nationalist BJP would examine Singh’s remarks and take action if he was found to have violated its code, party spokesperson K Krishna Rao told the News18 channel.
Hundreds of Muslims protested against Singh on Monday evening after the video appeared on social media, footage from media showed.
Earlier in June, Muslim countries took strong exception to derogatory remarks made against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by leaders of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with Qatar, Kuwait and Iran summoning India’s envoy to register their protest.
Qatar had sought a public apology from India for allowing such “Islamophobic” views without retribution.
The State of Kuwait summoned the ambassador of India and handed him a protest note in which it completely rejected and denounced the statements made by an official in the ruling party BJP against the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait summoned the ambassador of India, where he met with the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Asian Affairs, who handed him an official protest note expressing the State of Kuwait’s categorical rejection and condemnation of the insulting statements against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Islam and Muslims issued by one of the officials in the ruling party.