Delhi: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Monday rubbished Qatar’s demand for a public apology over BJP leader’s remarks about the life of Mohammad, the founder of the Islam religion.
Calling Qatar’s knee jerk reaction ‘not important’, the Kerela Governor urged the people to pay attention to the Prime Minister and the RSS Sarsanghchalak’s calls for ‘strengthening inclusiveness.’
While speaking to the media in Delhi, Shri Arif Mohammed Khan said that ‘people are entitled to their opinion.’ “People are entitled to their opinions. How does it matter? That (demand for apology) is not important. India cannot bother about such small reactions,” Arif Mohammed Khan said. He said that what the suspended BJP leader said was likely ‘in the heat of the moment in front of the TV.’ “These things are not really important,” he added.
The Kerala Governor further said that ‘India’s culture does not consider anybody as other.’ “Our tradition is not tolerance, but respect and acceptance for all traditions. We respect and we accept all traditions as true. India’s culture does not consider anybody as others,” the Governor said.
“We should pay more attention to what the Prime Minister is repeatedly saying and what the RSS Sarsanghchalak is repeatedly saying that we want our tradition of inclusiveness to be strengthened. Nobody is to be excluded. That is our cultural heritage. We need to strengthen that,” he added.
The BJP on Sunday suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma over her “views contrary to the party position on the various matter.”
Later Nupur Sharma, on Twitter, unconditionally withdrew her statement made in the TV debate and said that her comments were a reaction to “continuous insult and disrespect towards our Mahadev(Lord Shiva).”
