All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader and MP Asaduddin Owaisi has said that he will not be surprised if suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma contests from Delhi in Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Nupur Sharma, a former national spokesperson of the BJP, was suspended from the party in June 2022 for her remarks on the Prophet Mohammad during a debate on a news channel.
During the latest podcast with ANI Editor-in-Chief Smita Prakash, Mr Owaisi cast aspersions on the BJP's action against Ms Nupur and said: "She will definitely come back and fight elections for BJP."
"BJP will definitely use her. I will not be surprised if she is made a candidate from Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections," the AIMIM MP said.
Nupur Sharma's comments during the news debate in 2022 drew ire from across the nation and abroad and reportedly led to several violent incidents between communities, including the stabbing and death of a 54-year-old chemist, Umesh Kolhe.
Investigators believe that Kolhe was killed in retaliation for the social media post supporting Nupur. Kolhe had supported the statements made in May by Sharma on the Prophet.
On June 21, 2022, Kolhe was killed in Amravati, Maharashtra, by two motorcycle-borne men by slitting his throat. In a separate incident, a shopkeeper was beheaded by two men in Rajasthan's Udaipur for backing Nupur Sharma's remarks.
"Incidents like the Udaipur beheading should be condemned. I am against slogans like 'Sar Tan Se Juda'. I openly condemn it. Such a statement instigates violence. I am against violence," Mr Owaisi stated.
The AIMIM leader though questioned how many days Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government take to react to Sharma's statements.
"It is not the first time Nupur Sharma had come on a television channel. She made controversial remarks on a Hindi news channel before as well. I am against the threats used against her, Mr Owaisi stated as he made it clear, "Whatever she said is absolutely wrong."
Ms Sharma had later withdrawn her comments and, in a statement posted on Twitter, said that her intention was not to hurt anyone.
Reacting to her apology, Mr Owaisi said, "When did she apologise? She denied it but did not apologise, there is no clear-cut apology."
"She did not apologise. There is no clear-cut apology. Instead, there is a video, where she said that Amit Shah gave her confidence by saying 'we are with you'. She took the names of BJP leaders," he stated.
"There is a bounty on her head by an international group. I condemn this bounty. BJP will not remove her I can say it on record," Mr Owaisi told ANI.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
