Indian legislator from Modi’s BJP held after Prophet remarks

NEW DELHI, Aug 23 (Al Jazeera): Indian police have arrested a state legislator from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party for promoting enmity in the name of religion after Muslim groups demanded his arrest for his comments about the Prophet Muhammad.

The arrest of T Raja Singh, a member of the legislative assembly in the southern state of Telangana, on Tuesday came months after his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suspended a spokesperson for her remarks on the Prophet that led to a diplomatic backlash against India.

“He has been charged with promoting enmity in the name of religion,” Joel Davis, a senior police official in Hyderabad city, told Reuters news agency. “This is about the recent video that he posted.”

Hundreds of Muslims protested against Singh on Monday evening after the video appeared on social media, footage from the media showed.

In the video available on social media, Singh, in an apparent reference to the Prophet, said an “elderly man had married a girl decades his junior” – remarks similar to the ones made by BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma earlier this year.

The Hindu nationalist BJP on Tuesday suspended Singh for violating the party’s code, Indian media reports said.

“You have expressed views contrary to the party’s position on various matters which is clear violation of Rule XXV 10 (a) of the constitution of Bharatiya Janata Party,” a notice issued by the right-wing party’s central disciplinary committee head Om Pathak said.