BJP MP Tejasvi Surya has deleted his old tweet insulting Arab women as demand for action against him grew across Gulf countries. Several Arab intellectuals and human rights activists urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to act against the young MP from Bengaluru.
In his old tweet, Tejaswi had written, “95% Arab women have never had an orgasm in the last few hundred years! Every mother has produced kids as act of sex and not love:@TarekFatah.”
The controversial tweet began to be fervently shared by prominent Arab nationals in the last few days. UAE businesswoman Noora Al Ghurair wrote, “Pity Ur upbringing @Tejasvi_Surya that respect for women couldn’t be instilled in U despite India having some great female leaders .Please note if someday the govt bestows a foreign ministry to you, avoid travelling to Arab lands. You are not welcome here. This will be remembered.”
Pity Ur upbringing @Tejasvi_Surya that respect for women couldn’t be instilled in U despite India having some great female leaders .Please note if someday the govt bestows a foreign ministry to you, avoid travelling to Arab lands. You are not welcome here. This will be remembered pic.twitter.com/KJJlqJL5tR
— Noora AlGhurair (@AlGhurair98) April 19, 2020
Abdur Rahman Nassar, an intellectual from Kuwait, tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked him to drop Surya from the party.
Prime Minister ..
An Indian Member of Parliament accuses Arab women, and we Arabs are asking for his membership to be dropped !!@narendramodi@PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/aQl4XayWZU— عبدالرحمن النصار (@alnassar_kw) April 19, 2020
Mejbel Al Sharika, a Kuwaiti human rights lawyer, also tagged PM Modi on Twitter as he demanded ‘punitive action’ against the BJP MP. He wrote, “@PMOIndia Respected Prime minister @narendramodi India’s relation with the Arab world has been that of mutual respect. Do you allow your parliamentarian to publicly humiliate our women? We expect your urgent punitive action against @Tejasvi_Surya for his disgraceful comment.”
@PMOIndia Respected Prime minister @narendramodi India’s relation with the Arab world has been that of mutual respect. Do you allow your parliamentarian to publicly humiliate our women? We expect your urgent punitive action against @Tejasvi_Surya for his disgraceful comment. pic.twitter.com/emymJrc5aU
— المحامي⚖مجبل الشريكة (@MJALSHRIKA) April 19, 2020
Supporters of Tejasvi have argued that the BJP MP was merely quoting a known Islamophobe Tarek Fatah, who had to flee Pakistan and Saudi Arabia before taking refuge in Canada. However, others soon dug out another tweet by Tejasvi, where he was seen defending his original tweet being attributed to Fatah.
India has not officially reacted to the outrage by Arab nationals on social media. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that coronavirus did not see ‘race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking.’