The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday suspended its spokesperson Nupur Sharma from the party's primary membership and expelled its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal after their alleged inflammatory remarks against minorities.
The development comes hours after the party issued a statement seeking to defuse the row.
Expelling Jindal, a communication from its Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said, "Your primary membership is immediately terminated and you are expelled from the party."
Further, a communication to Sharma from the party's disciplinary committee said she has expressed views contrary to the party's position on various matters, which is in clear violation of its constitution.
Member secretary of BJP's central disciplinary committee, Om Pathak in a letter to Sharma said, "You have expressed views contrary to the Party's position on various matters, which is in clear violation of Rule 10 (a) of constitution of the BJP. I have been directed to convey to you that pending further inquiry, you are suspended from the party and from your responsibilities/assignments if any, with immediate effect."
Earlier in the day, BJP said in a statement issued by its general secretary Arun Singh, "The BJP strongly denounces insult of any religious personalities of any religion. The Bharatiya Janata Party is also against any ideology which insults or demeans any section or religion. The BJP does not promote such people or philosophy."
BJP stated that it "respects all religions" and is "strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion".
"During the thousands of years of the history of India every religion has blossomed and flourished. The Bharatiya Janata Party respects all religions," the brief statement said.
"India's Constitution gives the right to every citizen to practice any religion of his/her choice and to honour and respect every religion. As India celebrates 75th year of its independence, we are committed to making India a great country where all are equal and everyone lives with dignity, where all are committed to India's unity and integrity, where all enjoy the fruits of growth and development," it said.
However, the official statement made no direct mention of any incident or comment made by Sharma during the debate.
The Mumbai police registered an FIR against Sharma based on a complaint by Irfan Shaikh, joint secretary of the Mumbai wing of Raza Academy. It stated that Sharma, in a news debate on the Gyanvapi issue, allegedly made controversial comments about Prophet Muhammad. Moreover, Jindal allegedly tweeted against the interests of the country.
( With inputs from ANI )
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