By Kavita Mistry 
Bhopal: An unsavoury comment by Madhya Pradesh Tribal Affairs Minister Vijay Shah, purportedly aimed at Army Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, triggered a political controversy Tuesday with the Congress demanding his resignation. Qureshi, along with IAF Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, was the face of India’s press briefings on Operation Sindoor.
Later in the day, Shah was also summoned by Madhya Pradesh BJP president V.D. Sharma who, it is learnt, advised him to refrain from making such controversial remarks.
Shah is an eight-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA who has represented Harsud (ST) assembly seat in Khandwa district since 1990. He has been a part of the council of ministers in Madhya Pradesh since 2003.
Addressing a government function Tuesday in Manpur in Mhow tehsil of Indore district, Shah said, “Har jhopde aur har khopde mein halma hona chahiye. Halma matlab doosre ke liye jeena, samaj ke liye jeena. Jaise ki hamare Modi ji, jo dusre ke liye jeete thee, samaj ke liye jeete thee. Jin logo ne hamare behno ke sindoor ujaade hai, un kaate-peete logo ko unhi ke behen ko bhej ke unse aisi ki taisi karwai.”
(In every hut and head, there should be halma. Halma means to live for others, to live for society. Just like our Modi ji who lives for others and the society. Those who had snatched the sindoor of our daughters, their sister was sent to teach them a lesson.)
Calling for Shah to be dismissed, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on X that the minister made “very insulting, shameful and petty comments about our brave daughter, Colonel Sofia Qureshi”.
“Pahalgam terrorists wanted to divide the country but the entire country was united in giving a befitting lesson to those terrorists during Operation Sindoor. BJP-RSS’s mindset is anti-women. First, the martyred naval officer’s wife was trolled on social media. Then Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s daughter was harassed (by online abusers). Now the BJP minister is making such indecent comments about our brave Sofia Qureshi. Modi ji should immediately sack such a minister,” wrote Kharge.
भाजपा की मध्य प्रदेश सरकार के एक मंत्री ने हमारी वीर बेटी कर्नल सोफिया क़ुरैशी के बारे में बेहद अपमानजनक, शर्मनाक और ओछी टिप्पणी की है।
पहलगाम के आतंकी देश को बाँटना चाहते थे, पर आतंकवादियों को मुंहतोड़ जवाब देने में पूरे ‘ऑपरेशन सिंदूर’ के दौरान देश एकजुट था।
BJP-RSS की…
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) May 13, 2025
In his speech earlier in the day, Vijay Shah had given the example of how Indians rallied behind Operation Sindoor, which was a response to the Pahalgam terror attack, to explain the concept of halma—a common practice among Bhil tribes. Under this concept, members of the community join hands to achieve a common objective, like digging up a pond.
The minister also said that the terrorists who stripped and singled out Hindu men before killing them at Baisaran meadows in Pahalgam on 22 April, “Modi ji couldn’t go and strip them naked, so he sent their sister. That you have made our sisters into widows, so your sister from the same community will barge into your house and strip them naked and kill them.”
Praising the Prime Minister, he added, “Modi ji said he would bury these people in the ground. Terrorists were sitting in their homes and they were destroyed. This only a man with a 56-inch chest can do. We are proud that Narendra Modi is our Prime Minister and we are protected.”
Reacting to Shah’s remarks, Leader of the Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Umang Singhar said the remarks were “not only embarrassing but also an insult to women and the armed forces”.
“Be it an officer or a sepoy of the Army, they should not be identified for their religion. They should not be seen through the prism of their religion, be it Hindu or Muslim,” said Singhar, the Congress MLA from Gandhwani.
Shah later claimed his remarks had been misconstrued. “Some people are taking my statement in a different context. I did not mean it that way. She (Qureshi) is my sister and she has avenged the acts of the terrorists.”
The BJP leader is no stranger to controversy. In 2013, he was made to resign as a minister for remarks he made about then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s wife. Shah, however, was later reinstated as a minister.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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