In its responses to the diplomatic storm over the comments made by BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar, the government took a stern view of the statement by the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), but it subsequently made a special effort at ensuring that Indian Ambassadors based in every OIC country were briefed and sent “talking points” to deal with the situation on June 5.
Significantly, the reference to the leaders as “fringe elements” was not in the brief by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), sources said. It had possibly emerged from a telephone conversation and was used “mistakenly” in the press statements issued by the embassies in Doha and Kuwait.
The phrase “fringe elements” had caused some consternation within the MEA as well as among officials in the countries that lodged protests against the comments, as it appeared to be misleading, given that Ms. Sharma and Mr. Kumar were prominent leaders of the BJP before the party took action against them. “The initial press statements wrongly described them as fringe elements,” an official acknowledged, adding that the intention of the phrase was to convey that the views they had expressed were “views of the fringe, not the government or the party”.
