Amid protests in Islamic countries over controversial comments on the Prophet, India on Thursday reiterated that the remarks do not reflect the views of the Government and that action has been taken against the two BJP functionaries. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in a media briefing, also said that he did not want to comment on the Iranian government’s readout of the meeting between its Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
“On the issue of the Prophet remarks, let me emphasise that we’ve made it pretty clear the tweets and comments do not reflect the views of the Government of India,” Bagchi said.
“This has been conveyed to our interlocutors as also the fact that action has been taken by the concerned quarters against those who made the comments and tweets. I really do not have anything additional to say on this,” he added.
Asked whether the issue had been discussed between the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the Iranian FM, he said the issue did not arise during the talks between the two ministers.
To a question on the Iranian readout, which said the issue was discussed between Iranian Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian and NSA Ajit Doval and that “the Indian NSA reiterated the respect of the Indian government and officials for the Prophet saying that it will be treated as a lesson for others”, the spokesperson declined to comment and said that he was given to understand that the Iranian readout has been pulled down.
I don’t like to comment on comments between senior dignitaries…My understanding is that what you are referring to in a readout has been pulled down,” he said.
However, the Iranian readout was there on the Tehran government website.
Asked about Qatar saying that it wants an apology from the Government of India, the spokesperson said that the Indian Embassy in Qatar “has made clear our position” and that he did not want to add to it. “We put out our perspective,” he said.
The Embassy of India in Qatar on Sunday said in a statement that 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.”
A host of Islamic nations issued statements condemning the utterances about Prophet Mohammad by now-expelled and suspended BJP functionaries – Naveen Jindal and Nupur Sharma. The nations include Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, the Maldives, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Kuwait, Iran, Qatar, Iraq and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Pakistan.
Cairo-based Islamic institution Al Azhar, the GCC and the OIC, and the ruling party of Turkey have also condemned the remarks.
Qatar, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan were among countries that summoned the Indian ambassadors to issue protest notes.
