Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who has often taken a firm stand against Islamic fundamentalism in his country, has spoken in support of BJP’s former spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Wilders, in a series of tweets, stated that Nupur Sharma’s statement about Prophet Muhammad is a fact and not some false allegations.
“It is ridiculous that Arab and Islamic countries are angered by Indian politician Nupur Sharma’s statement for speaking the truth about Prophet Muhammad who indeed married Aisha when she was six years old and consumed the marriage when she was nine. Why does India apologize?”
In another tweet, Wilders stated, “Appeasement never works. It’ll only make things worse. So my dear friends from India, don’t be intimidated by Islamic countries. Stand up for freedom and be proud and steadfast in defending your politician Nupur Sharma who spoke the truth about Prophet Muhammad.”
Appeasement never works. It’ll only make things worse.
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) June 6, 2022
So my dear friends from India, don’t be intimidated by islamic countries. Stand up for freedom and be proud and steadfast in defending your politician #NupurSharma @NupurSharmaBJP who spoke the truth about Muhammad.
Wilders also shared the screenshot of a threat message by a Pakistani Muslim man who had threatened to murder him and ‘destroy America and the EU’. Wilders stated that he gets such death threats every single day from Pakistani and Turkish Muslims who want to kill in the name of the ‘so-called Prophet Muhammad’ and he will never stop speaking the truth.
It is notable here that Nupur Sharma’s statement about Prophet Muhammad’s life was deemed as ‘blasphemy’ and an insult to the Prophet by several Islamic leaders after Alt News’ Mohammad Zubair dog whistled against it. Online campaigns and social media targeting culminated in controversy and eventually, Islamic nations from the Gulf started condemning the statement. Since then the Indian government has clarified that the statement was her own and the government has no part in it. Sharma has been suspended from the BJP after the controversy.
Geert Wilders and his stand against Islamic fundamentalism
Geert Wilders has long been vocal against Islamic fundamentalism and radicalism in his country. As an MP he had been opposed to mass migration and had stated inside the parliament that through mass migration, the government was importing “a monster called Islam into the country”.
In an interview, Wilders had stated earlier, “I don’t hate Muslims, I hate Islam.” He said in the same interview, “Islam is not a religion, it’s an ideology, the ideology of a retarded culture.” In June 2018, Wilders had announced a ‘Prophet Muhammad cartoon competition’ to be held at his party’s parliamentary offices. Later in August, he was forced to cancel the event after threats of terrorist violence became too significant. A number of Islamic leaders had issued Fatwa for his murder.
In 2019, a Pakistani Muslim man named Junaid was sentenced to 10 years in jail for an assassination plot against Wilders. Junaid had posted a Facebook video saying he wants to send Wilders to hell.
Wilders, the 58-year-old Dutch MP is the chairman of the Party for Freedom in The Netherlands parliament. He is a right-wing leader who has been vocally opposed to the Dutch government’s immigration policies, especially from Muslim countries, and has even stated that he wants his country to leave the EU. He has worked with other conservative European leaders like France’s Marine Le Pen to form a parliamentary group in the EU parliament that now has parties from 9 EU countries.
