India, May 26 -- The diplomatic fallout was swift and severe. When Nupur Sharma, an official spokesperson for India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), made derogatory comments about the Prophet Muhammad during a heated television debate in 2022, she inadvertently ignited an international firestorm. Within days, ambassadors from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, and nearly a dozen other Muslim-majority nations were summoning Indian diplomats for formal reprimands. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation-representing 57 Muslim-majority states-issued a rare unified condemnation.

As the #BoycottIndianProducts trended across Arab social media, India's carefully cultivated relationships with the Gulf region teetered on the brink. The BJP ...