Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharti on Wednesday demanded immediate sacking of her party colleague and Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah from the state cabinet for “embarrassing” the people of India with his controversial remarks against Colonel Sofia Qureshi.
IMAGE: BJP leader and former Union minister Uma Bharti addresses people during a liquor ‘de-addiction campaign’in Bhopal, February 17, 2025. Photograph: ANI Photo
Bharti is probably the only BJP leader who has openly condemned Shah’s remarks and sought action against him after the Madhya Pradesh high court ordered police to register an FIR against the minister earlier in the day.
“Vijay Shah should be sacked and an FIR registered. Both actions should be taken immediately, because he has embarrassed the people of the country,” Bharti stated on X.
The tribal affairs minister has sparked a major controversy with his objectionable comments against Col Qureshi, whom he tried to portray as a ‘sister of terrorists’.
The high court castigated Shah for passing “dangerous” and “scurrilous” remarks and using “language of the gutter” against the Army officer and ordered the police to file an FIR against him for promoting enmity and hatred.
Col Qureshi came into the spotlight for holding regular press briefings along with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh on Operation Sindoor conducted last week by the Indian armed forces to strike terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
“They (terrorists) killed our Hindu brothers by making them remove their clothes. PM Modi ji responded by sending their (terrorists’) sister in an Army plane to strike them in their houses. They (terrorists) made our sisters widows, so Modiji sent the sister of their community to strip them and teach them a lesson,” Shah had said.
Under fire for his remarks, Shah said if anyone was hurt by his statement, he was ready to apologise ten times, adding that he respected Colonel Qureshi more than his sister.
