New Delhi: After the comments on Prophet Mohammad by Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, India faced backlash from 15 nations including Qatar. Qatar demanded an apology and told India envoy Deepak Mittal that such remarks may begin “prejudice and marginalisation, which will create a cycle of violence and hate”.
Qatar was also in news as over 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka lost their lives in Qatar since the country won the bid to host FIFA World Cup, in 2022.
While the government was trying to solve the issues through diplomacy, #BoycottQatarAirways started to trend on Twitter. While BJP suspended Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal has been expelled from the party, some people showed their support for Nupur Sharma on Twitter.
I support nupur Sharma #SupportNupurSharma
Nupur Sharma #नुपुर_शर्मा #NupurSharma #nupursharmabjp #BoycottQatar #BoycottQatarAirways pic.twitter.com/qmN1v3Y3tM— अक्षय राजेंद्र ढगे (@akki___007) June 7, 2022
There was also a lot of hate and Islamophobia that was trending on Twitter under the same hashtag. On the other hand, there were Twitter users who opposed the trend.
A spoof video of the CEO of Qatar Airways was trending as a reply to Vashudev’s tweet.
The CEO of Qatar airways now gives an interview to Aljazeera on the call for #BycottQatarAirwaysQatar by Vashudev
Watch till the end! https://t.co/ezBC8wYcv6 pic.twitter.com/8dkRZsCPHp— Ahad (@AhadunAhad11111) June 7, 2022
#BoycottFIFAWorldCup also started to trend along with #BoycottQatarAirways.
Not just #BoycottQatar #BoycottQatarAirways #BoycottFIFA #BoycottFifaWorldCup #MOFAQatar Sportsmail visits families of workers who died building World Cup https://t.co/BDJzo00Gwy via @MailSport
— ? Saravana Moorthy ? (@rssmoorthy) June 6, 2022
Releasing a statement on the comments by Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, the foreign ministry said the comments “did not, in any way, reflect the views of the government. These are the views of fringe elements.”