Who is Nupur Sharma, suspended BJP spokesperson
Senior BJP leader says party ‘strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion’.
Nupur Sharma has rarely been away from the spotlight. On Sunday, the BJP suspended its national spokesperson “pending further inquiry”, over a week after the Mumbai Police registered an FIR against her for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through her remarks on Prophet Muhammad last month during a television news debate. India is facing a backlash from the Arab world over the remarks of Sharma and its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal, who was expelled.
Earlier in the day, the BJP distanced itself from the controversy, with its national general secretary Arun Singh saying the party was “strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion”. He added, “The BJP does not promote such people or ideology.”
On Twitter, Nupur Sharma is followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Giriraj Singh, and Bhupendra Yadav; the BJP’s IT Cell head Amit Malviya; MPs Manoj Tiwari, Gautam Gambhir, and Parvesh Verma; and the party’s Delhi chief Adesh Gupta and Delhi in-charge Baijayant Panda.
The FIR in Mumbai was registered on May 28 based on a complaint by Irfan Shaikh, the joint secretary of Raza Academy’s Mumbai wing. It states that Sharma, in a news debate on the Gyanvapi issue, allegedly made abusive comments about the Prophet. While Sharma has denied saying anything abusive or “wrong”, she claimed that she started getting death and rape threats since the controversy broke out.
A graduate in economics from Delhi University’s Hindu College and LLB from the university’s Faculty of Law, Sharma, 37, also has a Master’s degree in law from the London School of Economics.
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