MEA Denies Iran Raised Prophet Remark in Meeting, Says ‘Made it Clear Tweets Don’t Reflect GoI Views’

India on Thursday denied that the row over controversial remarks on Prophet was raised by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian during his visit to the national capital. This comes after an Iranian readout stated that the country’s foreign minister brought up the topic during a meeting with NSA Ajit Doval on Wednesday.

According to the readout, as quoted by PTI, Doval assured that “offenders will be dealt with in such a way that others will learn a lesson.” However, Iran later pulled down this statement from its foreign ministry’s website.

Asked about the Iranian readout, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters the readout has been pulled down. “The issue on remarks against the Prophet did not come up between External Minister S Jaishankar and the Iranian Foreign Minister. This has been conveyed to our interlocutors as also the fact that action has been taken by the concerned quarters against those who made the comments and tweets. I really do not have anything additional to say on this,” he said at a media briefing.

The MEA also reiterated that the controversial remarks made by now-suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma do not reflect the views of the government. “We have made it pretty clear that tweets and comments do not reflect views of government,” Bagchi said.

Abdollahian, who was on a three-day visit to India to further enhance bilateral ties, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, NSA Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. “Pleased to meet PM Modi, FM Jaishankar & other Indian officials to advance our bilateral strategic dialogue. Tehran & New Delhi agree on the need to respect divine religions & Islamic sanctities & to avoid divisive statements. Iran-India determined to bring relations to new heights,” he said in a tweet.

Abdollahian’s visit to India came days after Iran joined Kuwait and Qatar in summoning the Indian ambassadors over the remarks against Prophet Mohammed by Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal. Since then, several countries, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Bahrain, Maldives, Malaysia, Oman, Iraq and Libya, have denounced the comments.

The BJP on Sunday suspended Nupur Sharma, its national spokesperson, and expelled the party’s Delhi unit media head Naveen Jindal, over their controversial comments.

(With inputs from PTI)

Read all the Latest India News here