No, 34 Countries Have Not Come Out In Support Of Nupur Sharma

Social media posts claiming 34 countries including Russia, Israel, the Netherlands and France have come out in support of India and former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma over her comments on the Prophet Mohammad during a TV debate, are false.

Several Arab countries including Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia had registered protests with the Indian government over remarks made by BJP members Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal against the Prophet Mohammad. Following the heavy backlash, the BJP distanced itself from the comments and expelled Jindal and suspended Sharma from the party.

A screenshot of a tweet by a fake Twitter account impersonating Retired Major General GD Bakshi, who appears as a panelist as a defense expert on Times Now and other news channels is being shared on Facebook claiming that 34 countries have come out and officially supported Nupur Sharma and India.

The tweet text when translated reads, "A total of 34 countries including Russia Netherlands France Israel supported Nupur Sharma and India. Jai Shri Ram"

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The original tweet by the fake Twitter handle can be seen below

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Also Read: Old Video From Kuwait Peddled As Man Beaten For Praising Nupur Sharma

FACT-CHECK

BOOM found that the claim is false and we did not find any official statement released by any country supporting suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma or India against the condemnation over her remarks.

We ran a relevant keyword search on Google and also searched for news reports and did not any reporting with the claim that 34 countries have supported Sharma's remarks.

Except for Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders tweet supporting Sharma over the anti-Prophet remarks, we did not find any official statement by the Netherlands on the issue.

Additionally, Wilders is an opposition party member in the Dutch Parliament and is a right-wing populist.

We also checked the foreign ministry handles of Russia, Israel, and France and did not find any pro-Sharma statements as is being claimed.