Firebrand rising star Sharma ‘overstepped her mark’
HER incendiary remarks on the Prophet Mohammed last week sparked outrage from the Islamic world and a diplomatic crisis, but Nupur Sharma has long been a firebrand mouthpiece for India’s government.
The 37-year-old, who studied at the London School of Economics (LSE), has been a regular fixture on TV news debates, distinguishing herself as a combative advocate for prime minister Narendra Modi’s agenda.
Her stature had risen in concert with the fortunes of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
But last week she set off a global backlash after commenting on the Prophet Mohammed’s relationship with his youngest wife during a broadcast debate.
Sharma – who could not be reached for comment – issued a public apology, saying she had received death threats in the wake of her TV appearance.
Her party also went into damage control, suspending Sharma for expressing “views contrary to the party’s position”.
“The BJP strongly denounces insult of any religious personalities of any religion,” it said.
But by suspending her, experts say the party has made Sharma a scapegoat for a broader political culture that has long dealt in anti-Islamic rhetoric.
“The party uses these hotheads to drive their agenda, but when they go overboard they are forced to pull back,” Delhi-based analyst Parsa Venkateshwar Rao said. “It’s a cat-and-mouse game that they play. The party top brass allows the spokespersons to raise the temperature, and when they feel it is going out of control, they get into action.”
Until last week, Sharma was seen as one of the rising stars of the party. A trained lawyer who attended the LSE, she had unsuccessfully contested a state election for the BJP in 2015.
She first joined the party’s youth wing while studying at the prestigious Delhi University, where she was elected student union president. She became infamous for leading a mob of students to storm a seminar hosted by a Muslim academic in 2008.
Later that day, she appeared on a television show to stridently defend her actions and those of a fellow student for spitting on the teacher – who had been charged and acquitted of a terror attack on India’s parliament.
“I am not going to apologise,” she said. “I’ll take a stand. The whole country should spit at him. Who invited him to the university to speak on terrorism?”
However, Sharma being sidelined from the party was not a result of her beliefs but because her comments on Islam had “overstepped her mark”, said Hartosh Singh Bal, political editor of Caravan magazine.
“She was at the centre of what the party’s future ideas would be for a young leader,” he said.
“This is just a little damage control. The kind of Islamophobia on which they practise their politics will not change.”
The BJP general secretary Arun Singh said in a statement that the party was against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion.
“The BJP does not promote
such people or philosophy,” Singh said.
He added, “During the thousands of years of the history of India, every religion has blossomed and flourished. The Bharatiya Janata Party respects all religions.”