Rally in Bangladesh slams India’s leaders for blasphemy, anti-Muslim policies

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh’s biggest non-political Islamic platform, Hefazat-e-Islam, on Thursday held a big rally in the capital Dhaka in protest against defamatory comments about Prophet Muhammad by some officials of the Indian ruling party.

Leaders of the organization called on the Bangladeshi government to send a formal condemnation message to the Indian authorities against disrespect to Prophet Muhammad.

If the Indian government fails to punish the offenders, it would tarnish the constitutional image of the country as a secular state, Hefazat leader Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury said while addressing the rally.

The participants also chanted slogans against India's oppressive state policy targeting Muslims for a long time and urged all Muslims across the world to be united against any oppression.

The speakers called for a boycott of Indian products until the country abandons its anti-Muslim stance.

Last week, the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal, the BJP's Delhi media head, made insulting remarks about Prophet Muhammad, triggering a wave of condemnation at home and from the Islamic world.

India, however, on Monday said the remarks do not reflect the views of the government, with the relevant bodies taking strong action against them.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi also stressed that they "do not, in any manner, reflect the views of the Government of India."

The BJP on Sunday said that it had suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal in response to the insulting remarks.

The ruling party of the South Asian biggest democratic state also issued a statement, saying: “(The BJP party) strongly denounces insults of any religious personalities of any religion.”