Supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party cheer at an election rally by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Amethi Lok Sabha constitunecy in Uttar Pradesh. Image by Bharatiya Janata Party via Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 2.0. This story is part of a Civic Media Observatory investigation into the Indian media ecosystem. To learn more about this project and its methods, click here. On June 5, 2022, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India suspended its spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal over their remarks on the Prophet Muhammad that have made headlines in India and abroad. On the night of May 26, Sharma allegedly made derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad during a show about the Gyanvapi mosque–Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute on Times Now, a private TV news channel. On May 28, Raza Academy, an organization of Indian Sunni Muslims, filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Sharma under Sections 295A (acts intended to provoke religious feelings), 153A (inciting enmity between different groups) and 505B (pursuading to commit an offence against the State or disturbing peace) of the Indian Penal Code. A second FIR was lodged on May 30. There was widespread condemnation of Sharma’s remarks in India, while many also defended her. Expat Indian Shafi Burfat tweeted: Nupur Sharma has the right to express her views & position in front of the world without any hesitation.If anyone wants to disagree with her then he can disagree with her viewpoint but threatening her is a rude act.We are with Nupur Sharma & will remain.#India @NupurSharmaBJP pic.twitter.com/3QGk5Iis7H — Shafi Burfat (@shafiburfat) June 6, 2022 Rightwing Twitter user @AryanKaushik149 mentioned: I support nupur sharma such a bravery work jai hind #ProphetMuhammad #IsupportNupurSharmaBJP pic.twitter.com/8R1SaNkhOD — हिंदुत्व सर्वे प्रिय (@AryanKaushik149) June 7, 2022 On June 3, violence erupted in the city of Kanpur in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh after some groups protested against her remarks. Dozens of people were injured and the police charged over 800 people in connection with the violence. India soon found itself in a diplomatic row with a number of Muslim majority countries in the Middle East, who condemned the derogatory remarks on Prophet Muhammad. There are over 6.5 million Indian migrants in the Middle East. The official Twitter account of the Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry stated: #Statement | The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses its condemnation and denunciation of the statements made by the spokeswoman of the #Indian Bharatiya Janata Party (#BJP), insulting the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. pic.twitter.com/VLQwdXuPuq — Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) June 5, 2022 Qatar, Kuwait and several other Muslim nations summoned the Indian ambassadors in their respective countries and lodged official protests against India. The hashtag #BoycottIndianProducts was trending on Twitter, and a Kuwaiti supermarket pulled Indian products off their shelves. The Indian Embassy in Qatar responded: Our response to a media query regarding statement issued by Qatar MOFA on an offensive tweet in India: https://t.co/IIIrWPiZ9A pic.twitter.com/FjmKqt2Cey — India in Qatar (@IndEmbDoha) June 5, 2022 The Indian government’s response that these were not the views of the Government of India, but of fringe elements, created further debate. Many BJP supporters were outraged by the decision to remove Sharma and Jindal and showed their support for the two, while others backed the BJP’s move. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned Sharma's remarks, saying that they came “​​in the context of the escalation of hatred and abuse of Islam in India,” which an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson rejected calling ”narrow-minded”. Anti-Muslim violence has been escalating in India, with state-sponsored attacks on Muslims through strategic campaigns and the dissemination of misinformation and propaganda on social media platforms and primetime news channels. #ShameOnBJP, #ModiShamesIndia, and #ShameOnBJPGOVT were the hashtags trending on Twitter following the BJP action towards Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal. Indians took no time to realise that the decision had come, not out of a sudden sense of guilt or regret over the remarks, since BJP members have historically always indulged in anti-Muslim hate-speech, but solely in response to external pressure from Middle Eastern countries. To BJP supporters it meant that the Hindu nationalist party had accepted defeat in the face of threat and condemnation from Islamic nations.