Slammed for her remarks on Prophet Muhammad during a TV debate, former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma has found support in Dutch MP Geert Wilders. Wilders, a far-right leader from The Netherlands said Nupur Sharma was telling the truth when she made the remarks and termed the anger of the Islamic countries “ridiculuous”.
Wilders called on Indians to support Nupur Sharma and said: “Never give in to Islamic terrorists like Al-Qaida, they represent barbarism. The whole Indian nation should rally around #napursharma now and support her. Al Qaida and the Taliban put me on their hitlist years ago. One lesson: never bow for terrorists. Never.”
“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 #NupurSharma [sic],” he tweeted further.
He called the protesting nations “hypocrites”, citing that they had no democracy, rule of law, or freedom and “persecuted minorities and disrespected human rights like no one else”.
WHO IS GEERT WILDERS?
1. Born on September 6, 1963, Geerth Wilders is a far-right leader from The Netherlands. He is the founder of the Party for Freedom, the third-largest party in the country, and has been its leader in the House of Representatives since 1998. Wilders is known for his criticism of Islam.
2. The Dutch MP has been accused of inciting religious hatred. He faces a constant threat to his life due to his fiery speeches.
3. Wilders is known to have campaigned for a ban on Islam in his country and the closure of mosques.
4. Wilders’s Twitter account was “temporarily restricted” earlier this year for denouncing the “violence of the intolerant ideology called Islam”. In his tweet, Wilders also said that the Pakistanis who sent him death threats were “inspired by the fake prophet”.
5. He is often called the “Dutch Trump” for his bleached blonde hair and controversial statements against immigrants, especially Muslims.
6. Last year, during Eid, Wilders tweeted a video attacking Islam and Ramzan. The video carried the closed captions: “Ramadan, not our culture, not our history, not our future,” “Stop Islamization,” and “Islam does not belong in the Netherlands.” Wilders posted the video with the caption: “Stop Islam. Stop Ramadan. Freedom. No Islam.”
7. In 2017, Geerth Wilders called for a ban on the Quran, comparing the Islamic holy book with German dictator Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. “I’d not have the Quran at all as we, in Holland at least, have outlawed Mein Kampf as well. It might be, in some part, highly symbolic. Still, it would have an enormous effect to do so. If one country is tougher on its immigration policy than the other, then the most immigrants go to the country with the softest immigration policy,” he had said.
8. Geert Wilders suspended his 2017 poll campaign after a secret service agent, who was part of the team responsible for protecting him, was accused of leaking the MP’s security cover details to a criminal organization.
9. In 2012, Geert Wilders authored a book titled: ‘Marked for Death: Islam’s War Against the West and Me’. The book details the “systematic suppression of free speech through lawsuits, prosecutions, threats, and violence meted out against Islam’s critics”.
10. In 2008, Geert Wilders was quoted by The Guardian as saying: “I don’t hate Muslims. I hate their book and their ideology.” “We already have more than 6,000 mosques in Europe, which are not only a place to worship but also a symbol of radicalisation, some financed by extreme groups in Saudi Arabia or Iran These kinds of symbols have to stop,” he had said. He, however, considers himself to be a right-wing liberal.
11. Since the 2000s, Wilders has been on the crosshair of Islamist terrorist organisations. Due to the constant threats to his life, he has been under police security since 2004.
