- Saturday, May 04, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday (5) suspended its spokesperson Nupul Sharma and Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal over their alleged controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammed that have put India’s relations with a number of Muslim nations under stress.
The move came hours after the saffron party issued a statement to ease the tension which has also put prime minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy establishment under challenge.
It said while the views expressed by Jindal violated the BJP’s fundamental beliefs and vitiate communal harmony, it told Sharma that her views were contrary to the party’s position on various issues and violated its constitution.
Sharma was suspended by the BJP pending further responsibilities.
India Weekly takes a look at the identities of Sharma.
Sharma, who made the controversial remarks during a television show, withdrew them unconditionally later in a statement made on Twitter saying she did not intend to hurt anybody’s religious feelings. She, however, also said that she had also been seeing insults being hurled at Hindu religious sentiments and could not tolerate it anymore.
— Nupur Sharma (@NupurSharmaBJP) June 5, 2022
Sharma, 37, is educated at Delhi University and London School of Economics (LSE), and has been known to be associated with the student wing of the saffron camp — Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). She is a law graduate and according to her LinkedIn profile, Sharma is an advocate by profession and a prominent leader of the BJP.
Known to be energetic, Sharma has also worked as an Ambassador for Teach For India in 2009-10, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Her political journey started in 2008 when she was won the election to the post of the president of Delhi University Students’ Union, as per Australia-India Youth Dialogue.
Later, she joined the ABVP.
She completed her Master’s degree in law from LSE and after joining politics, worked with senior BJP leaders such as Amit Shah, the current home minister of India, and the late Arun Jaitley, India’s former finance minister.
Sharma was also appointed as an official spokesperson for the BJP’s Delhi unit and in 2020, she became the BJP’s national spokesperson under the presidency of JP Nadda. She has been a regular participant in television debates.
In 2015, Sharma even contested election when she stood against the Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal, the current chief minister of Delhi, from the New Delhi seat but lost.
