Amid the ongoing Islamist outrage against former BJP Spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her alleged ‘blasphemous’ remarks, streets in the city of Surat in Gujarat have been arrayed with her posters, demanding her immediate arrest.
According to the reports, the posters portraying Nupur Sharma were pasted on Jilani Bridge in Surat on Wednesday. The posters called for the arrest of Sharma and read, “Nupur Sharma Arrest”. However, the persons who are involved in the incident are unidentified yet. The Police, having taken the cognizance of the incident are scanning the CCTV footage to identify the people behind the posters.
सूरत की सड़क पर नूपुर शर्मा के पोस्टर: निलंबित भाजपा प्रवक्ता के फोटो पर क्रॉस और जूते के निशान, गिरफ्तारी की मांग#NupurSharma #BJP #Surathttps://t.co/e7FLGa2gVd pic.twitter.com/tiKki6np24
— Dainik Bhaskar (@DainikBhaskar) June 8, 2022
The posters show the photograph of Nupur Sharma with a mark of a sole of shoe on her face, a red cross surrounded by a red circle and the words “Nupur Sharma Arrest”. Videos show a large number of printed posters pasted on the surface of the Jilani Bridge in the city.
This is days after BJP distanced itself from Nupur’s remarks, and the party suspended her for ‘objectionable’ remarks on Prophet Muhammad. In its suspension letter, the BJP told Sharma that she had expressed views contrary to the party’s on various matters which violate the party’s constitution. “The party respects all religions and is against any ideology that insults or demeans any sect or religion”, it stated. Delhi BJP spokesperson Naveen Kumar Jindal has also been expelled from the party for similar offences.
Following the suspension, the media had freely shared Nupur’s and Naveen Jindal’s addresses online, putting them at risk with multiple death threats coming their way daily. Reportedly, the Delhi Police on June 6 registered a case on a complaint by Sharma in which she stated that she received continuous death threats over her alleged remarks on Prophet Muhammad. The Delhi Police registered a case against unidentified people.
On May 31, several political parties like the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra staged protests against Sharma for her alleged remarks against Prophet. Also, a local Hyderabad-based party AIMIM (Inquilab) announced a reward of ₹1 crore rupees to any Muslim who would kill BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for allegedly committing blasphemy.
Sharma meanwhile also has received threats from extremist organizations across the border. On May 29, The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) supporters from Pakistan announced a cash reward of Pakistani Rupees 5 million (Around 19.5 lakhs INR) to anyone who would behead Nupur for allegedly committing ‘blasphemy’.
Also recently, the dreaded terrorist group Al Qaeda has issued a letter threatening suicide attacks in Delhi, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat to “fight for the honor of the Prophet”. Al Qaeda has made this threat in response to the alleged ‘blasphemous’ comments made by Sharma. In the letter dated the June 6, the terrorist group said, “We shall kill those who affront our Prophet and we shall bind explosives with our bodies and the bodies of our children to blow away the ranks of those who dare to dishonor our Prophet.” The letter also goes on to say that Hindutva terrorists are currently occupying India.
Sharma has been facing threats including death threats from Islamists since she made some comments as per the Islamic texts on Prophet Muhammad that irked the Muslims. She argued that since people are mocking the Hindu faith repeatedly, the Hindus can also mock other religions by referring to Islamic beliefs and the life of Prophet Muhammad. Her statement was taken out of context by Alt News co-founder and alleged fact-checker Mohammed Zubair, who released an army of trolls and Islamists after Sharma. As reported earlier, multiple FIRs have been registered against Sharma after the remarks and open calls for her death have also been made.
