News Analysis India

Tag: Naveen Kumar Jindal

  • Day after Rajasthan ‘beheading’, expelled BJP spokesperson Naveen Jindal claims death threats

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Former Delhi BJP media head Naveen Kumar Jindal, who was expelled from the party over his tweet on Prophet Mohammad, on Wednesday demanded security for himself and his family after he allegedly received death threats via e-mails, which also had videos of the Udaipur “beheading” incident.

    Around 6.45 am, I received three e-mails with videos of tailor Kanhaiya Lal’s murder in Udaipur and a threat of similar treatment to me and my family, Jindal said.

    “This is not the first threat. I have received hundreds of threats through social media, phone calls and messages in the past one month but Delhi Police has not strengthened my security cover although I have written half a dozen times to officials, including the commissioner of police,” he said.

    Kumar was expelled from the BJP, where he headed media cell of party’s Delhi unit, while national spokesperson of the party Nupur Sharma was suspended last month, over their remarks on the Prophet.

    “This morning around 6.43 am, I have received 3 emails with a video of brother Kanhaiya Lal’s throat being slit. They (accused) threatened me and my family with such threats. I have informed the Police Control Room,” Jindal tweeted. He also attached screenshots of the alleged e-mail threats.

    Jindal’s Y+ security cover was withdrawn in September last year. He said he has been currently provided with only two policemen although he felt “real danger” after the Udaipur incident.

    “I live with my wife and mother. I have shifted my children to some other place since the threats were issued to me. I have to often go out when I am exposed to any eventuality as only one policeman accompanies me while the other stays back at my house,” he said.

    Two men with a cleaver killed Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur city’s Dhan Mandi area on Tuesday and posted videos online that said they were avenging an insult to Islam.

  • ‘Receiving death threats on social media, urge Delhi Police to take note’: Expelled BJP leader Naveen Jindal

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Days after being expelled from the BJP over his controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammad, party’s former Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal on Tuesday claimed that he and his family members have been receiving “death threats” on social media platforms.

    Jindal had come under attack on social media after his tweet about Prophet Mohammad on June 1.

    “Me and my family members have been receiving death threats on social media platforms. I would like to request Delhi police to kindly take note of it,” Jindal wrote on Twitter.

    On Sunday, a communication from Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta to Jindal said his views on social media vitiate communal harmony and are in violation of the party’s fundamental beliefs.

    He has acted against the party’s policies and ideology, Gupta had said.

    “Your primary membership is immediately terminated and you are expelled from the party,” Gupta had said in the communication.

    Jindal said that he had tweeted asking a question to those attacking and insulting Hindu deities and it was not aimed at hurting the religious sentiments of any community.

    Jindal, a former journalist with over two decades of experience, has attracted controversy through his social media posts in the past too.

    Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has provided security to suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and her family after an FIR was registered on a complaint that she was getting death threats over her controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad, officials said.

    She had requested the police to provide security citing harassment and threats she had been receiving.

  • ‘Why are Muslim countries silent on China?’ asks a section of activists amid Prophet remarks row

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A section of activists and experts on Monday questioned the “silence”‘ of Muslim nations on China’s treatment of minorities and alleged violation of human rights there after some of these countries lodged a protest with India over the remarks of two BJP functionaries on Prophet Mohammad.

    The row over the alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad escalated on Sunday with protests from countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Iran, prompting the BJP to take action against its functionaries and assert that it respects all religions.

    But after the reaction of the Islamic countries, questions are being asked in some quarters on whether these nations will raise similar objections against China, which has been accused by many human rights groups of targeting Muslims and other minorities.

    Bejing has been denying these allegations.

    Brahma Chellaney, Professor Emeritus of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), said, “Some Muslim states that have been mute on China’s assault on Islam, including incarcerating over a million Muslims and confiscating Korans, have played up the anti-Muslim remarks of two Indians now expelled from the ruling party.

    “Is it because they perceive India as a soft state?” Kasturi Shankar, an activist and lawyer, also took to Twitter echoing similar sentiments.

    “Nations that claim to stand for the sentiments of the world’s two billion Muslims do nothing for Muslims in Afghanistan, Syria, China or Burma.”

    “We can do nothing against ISIS or China or Taliban, so let’s pick on a lone woman in a TV debate instead,” Shankar said.

    Former Rajya Sabha MP and BJP member Balbir Punj took to Twitter saying, “World knows how China treats its minorities- specifically Muslims & Tibetan Buddhists. China violates all human rights, international conventions while dealing with Islam & Muslims in Xinjiang. None in the world even squeaks about it. Why? Why? (sic)”.

    He alleged that the Congress, the communists and “jihadis” were celebrating as their “‘relentless campaign on manufactured intolerance against Modi & India has worked for now”.

    “‘We have to work harder to expose the real character of this lot & neutralise them to save plural India,” he said.

    Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran and Kuwait expressed their condemnation of the controversial remarks against the Prophet by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and former Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal, and called for “respect for beliefs and religions.”

    Indian ambassadors were summoned and handed over protest notes.

    As the row intensified domestically and abroad, the BJP on Sunday suspended Nupur Sharma and expelled Jindal.

    Sharma’s comments, made in a TV debate nearly 10 days ago, and Jindal’s now-deleted tweets also sparked a Twitter trend calling for a boycott of Indian products in some countries.

    “I condemn hate speech of any kind. I condemn hate speech by anyone. What piques me is the selective outrage and double standards.”

    The world needs to put humanity before religion,” Shankar said.

    “Nupur Sharma was way out of line. I cannot imagine the party had any other option but to expel her. That said, I don’t hear any of these countries condemn the manchester massacre, Charlie Hebdo or Islamic terrorist acts,” she said in a series of tweets.

    Divya Kumar Soti, security affairs analyst and columnist, also raised the issue of Uighurs and restrictions on Muslims imposed by the Chinese regime.

    “China sent millions of Uighur Muslims to reeducation camps, banned hijab and beard, restricted namaz and Ramzan. Did any Arab country ever dare summon a Chinese ambassador?” Soti said.

    Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit also took a swipe at the Arab countries over their reaction.

    “So Arab countries will now decide who should be a member of @BJP4India & what should be the basic principles on which the party should function,” he tweeted.

    Shankar said those who issue statements on behalf of all the Muslims of the world “should logically take responsibility for all the crimes by any and all Muslims too”.

    Several other Twitter users echoed the same sentiments.

    “Kuwait and Qatar never bothered about the actual torture of Uighur Muslims by China. But a TV debate on an Indian channel where the opponent was also insulting Hindus left right center rattled them,” said Monica Verma.

    Vishwas Mehta, another user, tweeted, “As an Indian, my respect to China on this matter because no Muslim country dares to say a word to the Chinese government for making concentration camps, atrocities on Muslims.

    They just make it look so simple and peaceful”.

    Pakistan, which has often drawn flak over the treatment meted out to minorities on its soil, had also summoned the Indian chargé d’affaires over the remarks by the two BJP leaders.

  • BJP’s loose cannons get the stick for hate speech

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  The BJP on Sunday sought to douse the communal fire lit by its loose cannons’ recent derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed, by suspending one and expelling the other. While the party suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her offensive comment in a TV debate, it expelled its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal for his reckless tweets. Nupur later dropped names of the party’s senior leadership in another interview, saying they were all with her on the issue, perhaps one reason why the BJP had to distance itself from her.

    Also, the hate speech triggered anger in the Arab world with the foreign offices of Qatar, Kuwait and Iran summoning the respective Indian envoys to register their outrage. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, too, condemned the remarks. Deepak Mittal, India’s Ambassador in Qatar, was at pains to clarify that the hate speech did not reflect the views of the government, adding it was made by fringe elements.

    “Ambassador conveyed that the tweets do not, in any manner, reflect the views of the Government of India. These are the views of fringe elements,” a spokesperson in Doha said. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) pitched in by underscoring India’s civilisational heritage and strong cultural traditions of unity in diversity, saying the government accords highest respect to all religions. 

    “We should work together against such mischievous elements who aim to undercut the strength of our bilateral ties,’’ MEA statement said. Earlier in the day, BJP general secretary Arun Singh released a signed statement saying the party is against any ideology that insults or demeans any sect or religion. “The BJP respects all religions. The BJP strongly denounces insult of any religious personalities of any religion,” the statement read.

    The BJP also possibly had elections to a clutch of states on its mind when it decided to use its whiplash. For, the hate speech was threatening to derail the party’s outreach to Muslim voters, especially after drawing a decent percentage of votes from Muslim pockets in the UP polls. While poll-bound Gujarat has 9.67% Muslim voters, the corresponding figure in Himachal is 2.18%, Karnataka 12.91% and Rajasthan 9.1%. Nupur later said, “If my words have caused discomfort or hurt religious feelings of anyone whatsoever, I hereby unconditionally withdraw my statement.”

    Aimed at global audience: Omar“There is a context to the BJP suddenly waking up… This apology of a statement is aimed at an international audience,” National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said in a tweet.

  • Prophet row: BJP action against its spokespersons ‘necessary and timely’, says Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Prominent Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind on Sunday described as “necessary and timely” the action by Bharatiya Janata Party against its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal for their alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad.

    In a statement, Jamiat said disciplinary action by BJP was “necessary and timely” for “maintaining law and order in the country”.

    Maulana Hakeemuddin Qasmi, general secretary of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, said “there is no bigger communalism and no greater offence than this, so we hope that law enforcement agencies will take legal action against them without delay and will indeed punish them, as well as take action against all such individuals who are constantly insulting the Prophet.”

    According to the statement, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind had recently passed a resolution in its national governing body meeting calling for the immediate passing of a law to protect the sanctity and dignity of all religious personalities.

    Sharma was on Sunday suspended from the party and Jindal expelled after their alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad as the BJP sought to defuse the row over the issue.

  • No intention of hurting religious sentiments: Naveen Kumar Jindal

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Naveen Kumar Jindal, who was on Sunday expelled from the BJP, said his remarks were not aimed at hurting the religious sentiments of any community and claimed he was receiving death threats.

    Delhi unit president Adesh Gupta expelled Jindal, who was the Delhi BJP media cell head, for allegedly expressing views on social media that vitiate communal harmony.

    Jindal said he was receiving death threats on social media and urged everyone, including the media, not to disclose his address. He had come under attack on social media over his tweet referring to the Prophet Mohammad on June 1. He told PTI that he was unaware of being expelled from the BJP and was yet to receive any letter from the state president.

    Jindal said he had tweeted asking a question to those attacking and insulting Hindu deities and it was not aimed at hurting the religious sentiments of any community.

    Gupta in his letter said Jindal’s opinion was contradictory to the party’s original ideology. “You have worked against the party’s ideology and policies,” said the letter.

    Gupta said Jindal’s primary membership of the BJP was terminated with immediate effect and he was expelled from the party.

  • BJP action against its leaders placatory, taken following threats from external powers: Cong

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday termed the BJP’s action against two of its spokespersons over their remarks against Prophet Muhammad as “placatory”, saying it came under duress following “threats from external powers” and exposed the saffron party’s “muscular posturing”.

    The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal on Sunday after their alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad.

    Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP of pushing India into a dark age of religious polarisation to “subserve its parochial political agenda in the short term”.

    “The placatory expulsion of two key members and spokespersons of the BJP from its primary membership, done obviously under duress of threats from external powers, exposes the much touted ‘muscular posturing’ and positioning of the BJP and the Modi government,” Surjewala said in a statement.

    “Is the BJP sincere in course correcting? Is the BJP trying to atone for its immeasurable sins or is it more chameleon-like posturing?” he asked. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Centre calling BJP spokespersons “fringe elements” is a joke.

    The remarks by the BJP spokespersons drew international attention, with Qatar’s foreign ministry saying it has summoned Indian Ambassador Deepak Mittal and handed over an official note to him on what the Gulf country called “total rejection and condemnation” of the controversial remarks of a BJP leader against Prophet Muhammad.

    In a press release, a spokesperson of the Indian Embassy in Qatar said the ambassador had a meeting at the Foreign Office, in which concerns were raised with regard to some offensive tweets by individuals in India, denigrating the religious personality.

    “The ambassador conveyed that the tweets do not, in any manner, reflect the views of the Government of India. These are the views of fringe elements,” the spokesperson said.

    Reacting to the statement, Ramesh tweeted: “BJP has suspended two spokespersons after protests by Qatar government. This is what Americans call a good cop-bad cop routine. First, get your people to be obnoxious. Then act against them under pressure, to appear moderate. MEA calling BJP spokespersons ‘fringe elements’ is a joke!”

    Congress’s social media department head Rohan Gupta also tweeted: “Now Indian government calls BJP spokespersons fringe elements!” Another Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said this fire must be doused as it is now gripping NRIs too.

    “The way the BJP has adopted the phrase ‘Ghar Phoonk Tamasha Dekhna’ (making a spectacle after setting the house on fire), the head of every secular citizen of the country has bowed in shame. Now even non-resident Indians are coming under the grip of this fire. This fire should be doused immediately,” the former Union minister said in a tweet in Hindi.

    Amid protests by Muslim groups over the remarks, the BJP also issued a statement aimed at assuaging the concerns of the minorities and distancing itself from these members, asserting that it respects all religions and strongly denounces the insult of any religious personality.

    “BJP’s statement today saying, ‘strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion’ is nothing but a blatantly counterfeit pretence and sham attempt at damage control,” Surjewala tweeted.

    “One thing is clear, it is a lesson to the virulent members of the BJP that they are nothing but fodders in this game of political grandstanding and that they can be used, thrown and discarded at the drop of a hat,” he said.

    The Congress leader said a short statement by the BJP is unlikely to heal the millions of wounds inflicted on the ethos of Indianness.

    “Will the bulldozing of India’s soul, its ethos and its all-encompassing humanity by the bulldozer of hatred finally stop? Will the mob-lynching of our constitutional ethos cease? Is repentance by the BJP and its leadership possible?” he asked.

    Surjewala said the truth is that the BJP has pushed India into a dark age of religious polarisation to subserve its parochial political agenda in the short term.

    As a result, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians as also SCs, STs and OBCs have had to face the wrath of lumpen elements backed by State power, he alleged, adding that this cannot be the central theme of any political party.

    “The BJP and its shenanigans have repeatedly and by design insulted India’s centuries old civilisational ethos of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ by constantly pitting one community and religion against another to polarise, to divide and to spread hatred,” Surjewala said.

    He said the intrinsic character of the BJP and the Modi government is now founded upon religious violence, divisive conservatism and nurturing hatred to secure vote-bank politics.

    “None less than the Prime Minister and the BJP Chief Ministers, of the ilk of Adityanath, have introduced a new political vocabulary of State sponsored division of society, i.e. ‘Shamshan-Kabristan’, ’80 versus 20′, ‘bulldozer’,” he said, adding that the language of politics during elections no longer centres around phrases like development, employment, progress, education, agriculture, irrigation, electricity, trade and business and infrastructure.

    “It is now entirely centred upon creating, propagating, promoting and executing a wedge between religions and communities based on what they wear, what they eat, how they live, how they celebrate their religion or even how they speak,” he said.