Dutch PM Frontrunner Geert Wilders Sends ‘Message of Support to Brave’ Nupur Sharma – News18

Dutch right-wing leader Geert Wilders on Saturday said he sent ‘a personal message of strength’ to Nupur Sharma and expressed his desire to meet Sharma, a former spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“I sent a personal message of support to the brave Nupur Sharma, who has been threatened by Islamists for years now only for speaking the truth. Freedom loving people all over the world should support her. I hope to meet her one day while visiting India,” Wilders, who is in the race to become the Prime Minister of Netherlands, said in a post on social media site X.

Wilders on several occasions has supported the former spokesperson, saying that he is a defender of freedom of speech and expression. He backed her when she was sidelined from the party after she made controversial remarks regarding Prophet Mohammad on a news show.

Geert at that time backed her and said that he supports what Nupur Sharma has said.

Geert Wilders, whose Freedom party (PVV) shocked Europe by finishing first in Netherlands general elections in November 2023, is known for his firebrand nature. The right-wing politician, however, changed his stance slightly as elections approached and even told news media outlets that he doesn’t like being labelled as far-right.

“We are a country of consensus-building. We don’t even have that many far-right people in our country; we never will. Indigenous people are being ignored because of mass immigration… they feel mistreated,” Wilders said.

He also said that his plans to ban the Quran, Islamic schools and mosques as mentioned in his party’s manifesto is now in the cold storage, in an attempt to make his party more palatable to moderate voters, as per a report by the BBC.

His party, however, still stands beside the proposed ban on Islamic headscarves in public buildings, which is also mentioned in its manifesto.

Wilders is also a major supporter of the current Indian government’s policies. He backed the government’s decision to dilute Article 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.

Meanwhile, the firebrand leader is struggling to form the government in the Netherlands despite being the largest party with most votes as coalition talks with the centrist New Social Contract (NSC) collapsed last week.

Wilders’ PVV won a shock 37 seats in the election but fell far short of the 76 seats needed for a majority. He wants to form the next government with the NSC, which won 20 seats, the BBB agrarian party (seven seats), and the centre-right VVD party (24 seats), according to a report by the Guardian.