The Supreme Court Thursday slammed Madhya Pradesh Tribal Affairs Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah over his remarks against Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who was part of the daily briefings during India’s military standoff with Pakistan.
“What sort of statements are you making,” the top court said.
The minister had moved a plea seeking a stay on the FIR against him which was ordered by the Madhya Pradesh High Court over for his purported remarks targeting Qureshi. Shah’s comments alluding to Qureshi as “a sister of terrorists” who carried out the Pahalgam attack were “cancerous and dangerous”, the MP High Court had said in a suo motu order.
In his speech on Monday, Shah had said: “India taught a lesson to those responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack using a sister from their own community (unki samaaj ki behen ke zariye).” He repeated the same thrice, without mentioning Qureshi’s name.
Hours after Shah’s speech at an event near Mhow the previous day went viral, MP CM pulled Shah, with advice on “how to conduct himself in public”. Sources said that the atmosphere at the meeting was “tense”. “This was not the first time Shah had made loose comments and he was told by the CM to not repeat this and to not speak about sensitive issues surrounding Operation Sindoor at a public platform,” a senior BJP functionary said.
The Tribal Affairs Minister was summoned next to the BJP state headquarters, where party general secretary (organisation) Hitanand Sharma met him. “He was asked to maintain party discipline and not give a chance to the Opposition to attack the BJP,” said a senior leader.
