KUALA LUMPUR: The disparaging remarks made by some politicians in India against Prophet Muhammad and Islam do not represent the views of the Indian government.
A spokesman from the High Commission in India here, in a statement yesterday, said the Indian government accords the highest respect to all religions.
"The High Commissioner of India to Malaysia had a meeting with Foreign Ministry officials in Putrajaya during which concerns were raised with regards to some offensive tweets or remarks made by individuals in India.
"The High Commissioner conveyed that the offensive tweets or remarks do not, in any manner, represent the views of the Indian government.
"Strong action has already been taken by concerned quarters against those who made the derogatory tweets or remarks," the statement read.
Bernama yesterday reported that Malaysia joined several nations in condemning the insulting comments made by some Indian politicians against the Prophet Muhammad and Islam.
The Foreign Ministry in a statement on Tuesday had said: "Malaysia welcomed the decision by the ruling party to suspend the party officials due to their provocative remarks that has generated rage among Muslim Ummah."
Malaysia, said the ministry, had also called upon India to work together in ending Islamophobia and cease any provocative acts in the interest of peace and stability.
The same Bernama report said, also apart from Malaysia, other nations that condemned the offensive remarks made by the two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party officials included the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, the Maldives, Bahrain and Turkey.
Kuwait, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were among the first to lodge protests against the remarks.
The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) described the BJP leader's remarks as part of a wider pattern of Islamophobia and violence against the Muslim community in India.
There were also reports that boycotts ensued where products made in India were taken off shelves in countries outraged by the inflammatory comments.
It was also reported that BJP has since suspended the two party officials.
