Far-right leader Geert Wilders who had once defended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma over her comments on Prophet Muhammad, has emmerged as the surprise victor in the Netherlands elections, after a late surge that catapulted his anti-EU party to a resounding victory over his mainstream rivals.
Wilders party, the anti-Islam Party for Freedom, now has 37 seats in the Dutch parliament and is on course to be the largest party in the house. But he is still a long way from his dream of becoming the Prime Minister, for which his party will need to cross the magic number of 76 through a coalition.
Wilders said his focus would be on curbing immigration. During the campaign, he softened his anti-Islam rhetoric and instead talked about issues such as the cost of living and immigration, which led to analysts describing him as “Geert Milders”.
The 60-year-old has been a fixture in Dutch politics for decades. He started his career as a member of former Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s liberal group but broke away to serve as an independent lawmaker before setting up the anti-migrant Freedom Party, known as the PVV in Dutch.
He has been facing death threats because of his anti-Islamic views and has been under tight police protection since 2004. In 2020, a court found him guilty on insult charges for comments he made about Moroccan immigrants, but the judges imposed no penalty.
In 2022, Wilders had also defended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma over her comments on Prophet Muhammad.
“Nupur Sharma is a hero who spoke nothing but the truth. The whole world should be proud of her. She deserves the Nobel Prize. And India is a Hindu nation, the Indian government is obliged to strongly defend Hindus against Islamic hate and violence,” he had said in a tweet after Nupur Sharma’s remarks on a TV debate sparked a row.