Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and minister in the Madhya Pradesh government Vijay Shah has made “offensive” and “hateful” remarks about ‘Operation Sindoor’ whistleblower Colonel Sophia Qureshi, sparking a new political controversy. After the video of Shah’s comment was circulated on social media, when he was heavily criticized, he clarified that Col. Sophia is more respected than his sister and if anyone was hurt by his (Shah’s) comment, then he is ready to apologize ten times.
The viral video is said to be from Monday, in which the state’s tribal welfare minister Shah is heard saying, “Those who had stripped the vermilion of our daughters, they were beaten up by sending their sisters to do such and such to them.” He is heard saying, “They stripped our Hindus and killed them and Modi ji sent his sister to their house in our ship to do so-and-so to them.” However, Shah has not mentioned anyone’s name in the entire video. Shah was addressing a public program in Ramkunda village of Mhoo near Indore on Monday. The echo of his comment reached Delhi. The Congress demanded that Shah should be dismissed from the cabinet immediately.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also said that Shah, who had made “insulting” comments in reference to Colonel Sophia Qureshi, should be sacked immediately. Kharge posted on ‘X’, “A minister of the Madhya Pradesh government of BJP has made very insulting, shameful and vulgar comments about our brave daughter Colonel Sophia Qureshi. The terrorists who carried out the Pahalgam attack wanted to divide the country, but the country was united throughout ‘Operation Sindoor’ in giving a befitting reply to the terrorists. The Congress president said, “First the wife of the naval officer who was martyred in Pahalgam was trolled on social media, then the daughter of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri was harassed and now the BJP minister is making such indecent comments about our hero Sophia Qureshi.”
Kharge said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should immediately sack such a minister. Colonel Sophia was a part of the team that put the Indian side in front of the country and the world through the media about ‘Operation Sindoor’. Jitu Patwari, president of Madhya Pradesh unit of Congress, shared Shah’s video on ‘X’ and said that the BJP should immediately say whether it agrees with Vijay Shah’s “poor thinking”. He asked Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to respond to Shah’s comments.
The media department of the State Congress Committee issued a press release and alleged that this “indecent” and “hateful” statement by Shah was not an attack on just one person, but an open attack on India’s military dignity, national unity and women’s dignity. As the dispute escalated, BJP’s Madhya Pradesh unit’s organization general secretary Hitanand Sharma summoned Shah to the state headquarters in Bhopal. According to sources, Sharma reprimanded him for his comments. Shah also met state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma. After this, giving an explanation to the media, Shah said that his mind was “disturbed” by the brutality with which people were killed in Pahalgam and that’s when “this thing came out of his mouth”.
The BJP leader said, “Sophia sister has enlightened the name of India by rising above caste and religion while carrying out the national religion. He is more respected than our sister. I salute them.” However, society and religion have been hurt by my words, so I am ready to apologize ten times. Colonel Sophia Qureshi along with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh shared the information of the army’s action under ‘Operation Sindoor’ with the media. The Indian Armed Forces launched a missile attack on nine terrorist targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) while acting against the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. This campaign of the Indian Army has been named ‘Operation Sindoor’.