The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and various Muslim organisations, led by Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar, will take out a massive morcha to the Azadi Maidan on Friday to demand the arrest of suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled former Delhi BJP media unit head Naveen Kumar Jindal for his alleged remarks against Prophet Mohammad.
The VBA’s peace morcha will begin from its Madanpura office and culminate at downtown Azadan Maidan in south Mumbai. The activisits of several Muslim organisations will join the morcha.
Announcing this, VBA’s state president Rekha Thakur said: “The issue involving Nupur Sharma is no longer the country’s internal matter. It has assumed an international dimension. Nupur Sharma’s remarks against Prophet Mohammad have triggered backlash in the Middle-East and European countries. This development will have an impact on the Indians living there and also on the Indian economy.”
“Lakhs of Indians live in different parts of the world. The Kuwait government has already indicated that it would deport Indians living there. Currently, as many as 90 lakh people live in the Gulf countries. Of the money received from Indians working abroad, 55 per cent remittances come from the Gulf countries. In 2020, India received remittances amounting to a staggering Rs 5,78,800 crore from Gulf countries. In this backdrop, the utterances by Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal will have a severe adverse impact on the Indian economy,” she said.
“In national interest, we have decided to take up the issue. Because, just to protect two of its party functionaries, the ruling BJP is holding the entire country to ransom. We are taking out a peace morcha tomorrow to demand the arrest of Nurpur Sharma and Navi Jindal and demand the enactment of Hate Speech Prohibition law proposed by VBA,” she said.
Thakir said that her party front had given letters to the heads of the three Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents – Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, urging them to support her organisation’s morcha.
VBA convenor Prakash Ambedkar rooted for stern action against Nupur Sharma "Stern action should be taken against Nupur Sharma. Suspending her from the party is not a strict action. If anyone says anything against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then strict action is taken against the person immediately. Why not in this case?,"
Ambedkar, who is the grandson of late Dr. B R Ambedkar, said that there was a threat to the lives of Indians living abroad due to the statements by Nupur Sharma and the leaders who supported her.
Meanwhile, anticipating a huge turnout at the morcha being taken out from Madanpura to Azad Maidan by VBA on Friday, the city police have made elaborate security arrangements to ensure against untoward incidents during the morcha.