Nupur Sharma later retracted her comment and said in a statement posted on Twitter that she did not intend to hurt anyone.
New Delhi: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader and MP Asaduddin Owaisi has said that he would not be surprised if suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma contests from Delhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Former BJP National Spokesperson Nupur Sharma was suspended from the party in June 2022 for his remarks against Prophet Muhammad during a discussion on a news channel.
During a recent podcast by ANI editor-in-chief Smita Prakash, Owaisi objected to the BJP’s action on Nupur and said: “She will definitely come back and contest for the BJP.”
“BJP will definitely use her. I will not be surprised if she is nominated from Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections,” said the AIMIM MP.
In 2022, Nupur Sharma’s comments during a news debate sparked outrage from across the country and abroad and led to several violent incidents in the community, including the stabbing death of 54-year-old chemist Umesh Kolhe.
Investigating officials believe that Kolhe was killed in retaliation for social media posts supporting Nupur. Kolhe had backed Sharma’s remarks on the Prophet in May.
On June 21, 2022, Kolhe was killed by two motorcycle-borne men in Amravati, Maharashtra. In a separate incident, a shopkeeper was beheaded by two men for supporting Nupur Sharma’s statement in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
“Incidents like the Udaipur beheading should be condemned. I am against slogans like ‘Sir Tan Se Juda’. I publicly protest this. Such a statement incites violence. I am against violence, said Owaisi.
The AIMIM leader questioned how long Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government would take to respond to Sharma’s statement.
“This is not the first time that Nupur Sharma is on a television channel. Earlier also she had made a controversial statement on a Hindi news channel. I am against the threats being used against her, Owaisi explained, adding, “Whatever she said is completely wrong.”
Nupur Sharma later retracted her comment and said in a statement posted on Twitter that she did not intend to hurt anyone.
Reacting to her apology, Owaisi said, “When did she apologize? She denied it but didn’t apologise, no clear apology.”
“She didn’t apologize. There is no express apology. Instead, there is a video, in which she says Amit Shah gave her confidence by saying ‘we are with you’. She took names of BJP leaders,” he said.
“An international group has put a bounty on her head. I condemn this charity. I can say on record that BJP will not remove her, Owaisi told ANI.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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