Kuwait, June 07: A Kuwaiti supermarket removed Indian products from its shelves, following insulting statements made against the Prophet Muhammad by two officials of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in India.
Workers at the Al-Ardiya Co-Operative Society store piled Indian tea and other products into trolleys in a protest against comments denounced as “Islamophobic”. The boycott was in view of derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad, by BJP spokespersons Naveen Kumar Jindal and Nupur Sharma.
“We boycotted Indian products because of offending the Messenger. We, as a Kuwaiti and Muslim people, do not accept insulting the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace,” Nasser Al-Mutairi, CEO of the store was quoted by the news agency AFP. Besides, an official at the chain said a company-wide boycott was being considered.
Shelves of spices and chilies and sacks of rice were covered with plastic sheets with printed signs in Arabic that read: “We have removed Indian products”.
Comments by Bharatiya Janata Party spokeswoman Nupur Sharma have sparked a furor among Muslims. Sharma’s remarks during a televised debate last week were blamed for clashes in Uttar Pradesh and prompted demands for her arrest. Meanwhile, Pakistan also joined Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iran to condemn the remarks.
The Indian embassies in Kuwait and Qatar issued separate but identical statements on Sunday, saying the “offensive tweets” by individuals in India “do not, in any manner, reflect the views of the government of India”, adding “these are the views of fringe elements.” Sharma’s comments, made in a TV debate nearly 10 days back, and Jindal’s now-deleted tweets also sparked a Twitter trend, calling for a boycott of Indian products in some Arab countries.
While Sharma, who was a BJP national spokesperson, has been suspended from the party, Jindal, head of Delhi BJP media head, has been expelled from the party.
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