Police in northern India have arrested a young leader of the ruling Hindu nationalist party for posting anti-Muslim comments on social media, officials said on Wednesday, after insulting comments made by another party official about the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, led to diplomatic protests.
Harshit Srivastava, a young leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was arrested in Kanpur in the wake of communal tensions last week during a Muslim protest to denounce anti-Islam comments.
"We have arrested the local politician for making remarks inciting against Muslims," senior police official Prashant Kumar said, adding that at least 50 people had been detained following the tensions in Kanpur.
Sporadic unrest was reported in other parts of India after Bharatiya Janata Party spokeswoman Nupur Sharma made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad during a televised debate.
The party said her membership was suspended while another speaker, Naveen Kumar Jindal, was expelled for comments he made about Islam on social media.
anger and condemnation
Domestic anger gained new momentum after leaders of Muslim countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan demanded an apology from the Indian government, and summoned diplomats to protest against Islamophobic statements.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which includes 57 countries, said in a statement that "the insults come in a context of increasing hatred and insults to Islam in India and the systematic harassment of Muslims there."
For its part, Malaysia condemned politicians in India for insulting the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace.
It also welcomed the decision of the ruling party in India to suspend the membership of its leaders who made provocative statements, which caused a wave of anger to the Islamic nation.
Malaysia called on India to work together to end Islamic terrorism or what is known as "Islamophobia" and stop provocative actions in the interest of security and stability.
For its part, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the insulting statements of the Holy Prophet made by two Indian politicians, describing them as unacceptable, saying that it had informed the Indian ambassador in Jakarta.
India's foreign ministry said on Monday that the offensive tweets and comments did not in any way reflect the views of the government.