Ironic as India improving ties with Muslim countries: Shashi Tharoor on Prophet remark row

Media in Islamic countries are replete with stories about the increasing demonisation of Muslims in India, Shashi Tharoor said, adding that it is ironic given New Delhi's impressive steps to better ties with Muslim countries.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said it is ironic that the India government took "impressive steps" to strengthen its relations with Islamic countries in the past few years but the proliferation of hate speech threatens those ties gravely. In an interview to news agency PTI, the Congress MP said PM Modi should break his silence on the Islamophobic incidents in the country as his silence is being interpreted by some as condoning what has been happening.

Shashi Tharoor said PM Modi's silence on hate speeches, Islamophobia is sending out a wrong message to Islamic countries. 

The comment comes after India faced a huge backlash from Muslim countries over former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's comment on Prophet Muhammad. Following the uproar, the BJP suspended Nupur Sharma from the primary membership of the party, while the government clarified that the opinion of Nupur Sharma, a 'fringe element', is not reflective of the government's opinion.

Protests, some of them violent, took place in several states demanding Nupur Sharma's arrest.

"Exemplary action against any and all offenders will have a salutary effect in reducing such cases in future," Shashi Tharoor said adding that he never considered any need for blasphemy laws in the country. "The existence of a blasphemy law tends to encourage both excessive frivolous litigation and mob misconduct by those who take the law into their own hands. I think our current hate speech laws and Section 295A are quite adequate to deal with such misbehaviour," Tharoor said, as quoted by PTI.

"In the name of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas', he must publicly call for a stop to such behaviour," Tharoor added.