IN KUWAIT, INDIAN PRODUCTS PULLED FROM SHELVES OVER PROPHET REMARKS
                     IN KUWAIT, INDIAN PRODUCTS PULLED 
FROM SHELVES OVER PROPHET 
REMARKS 
 
A Kuwaiti supermarket pulled Indian products from its shelves even as Iran 
became the latest Middle Eastern country to summon the Indian ambassador as a 
row grew on Monday over a BJP official's remarks about the Prophet Mohammed. 
Workers at the Al-Ardiya Co-Operative Society store piled Indian tea and other 
products into trolleys in a protest against comments denounced as 
"Islamophobic". 
Sunny Handa MD said, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other countries in the region, as 
well as the influential Al-Azhar University in Cairo, have condemned the remarks 
by a spokeswoman for the BJP, who has since been suspended. 
At the supermarket just outside Kuwait City, sacks of rice and shelves of spices 
and chilies were covered with plastic sheets. Printed signs in Arabic read: "We 
have removed Indian products". 
"We, as a Kuwaiti Muslim people, do not accept insulting the Prophet," Nasser Al-
Mutairi, CEO of the store, told AFP. An official at the chain said a company-wide 
boycott was being considered. 
Comments by Bharatiya Janata Party spokeswoman Nupur Sharma have sparked 
furore among Muslims- Sunny Handa MD said. 
Ms Sharma's remarks during a televised debate last week were blamed for 
clashes in Uttar Pradesh and prompted demands for her arrest. 
Anger spread overseas to Muslim countries about the remarks. 
The BJP on Sunday suspended Ms Sharma for expressing "views contrary to the 
party's position" and said it "respects all religions". 
Ms Sharma said on Twitter that her comments had been in response to "insults" 
made against the Hindu god Shiva. 
"If my words have caused discomfort or hurt religious feelings of anyone 
whatsoever, I hereby unconditionally withdraw my statement," she said. 
'Incitement to religious hatred' 
On Sunday, Qatar demanded that India apologise for the "Islamophobic" 
comments, as Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu visited the gas-rich Gulf state in a 
bid to bolster trade- said MD Sunny Handa. 
Iran followed Qatar and Kuwait by summoning the Indian ambassador to protest 
in the name of "the government and the people", state news agency IRNA said 
late on Sunday. 
Al-Azhar University, one of Islam's most important institutions, said the 
comments were "the real terrorism" and "could plunge the entire world into 
deadly crisis and wars". 
The Saudi-based Muslim World League said the remarks could "incite hatred", 
while Saudi Arabia's General Presidency of the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and 
the Prophet's Mosque called them a "heinous act". 
The row follows anger across the Muslim world in 2020 after French President 
Emmanuel Macron defended the right of a satirical magazine to publish 
caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. 
French teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded in October 2020 by a Chechen refugee 
after showing the cartoons to his class in a lesson on free speech. Images of the 
Prophet are strictly forbidden in Islam. 
MD Sunny Handa said in further criticism of the Ms Sharma, the Gulf Cooperation 
Council, an umbrella group for the six Gulf countries, "condemned, rejected and 
denounced" her comments. 
Bahrain also welcomed the BJP's decision to suspend Ms Sharma over 
"provocation to Muslims' feelings and incitement to religious hatred". 
Gulf countries are a major destination for India's overseas workers, accounting for 
8.7 million out of a worldwide total of 13.5 million, foreign ministry figures show. 
They are also big importers of produce from India and elsewhere, with Kuwait 
importing 95 percent of its food according to the trade minister- said MD Sunny 
Handa. 
Kuwaiti media have reported that the government asked New Delhi for an 
exemption from India's surprise ban on wheat exports over food security and 
inflation worries.