Gutter Politics

At a moment when India finds itself in the throes of geopolitical turbulence in a conflict triggered by Pakistan, a senior BJP minister has chosen to pour petrol on the flames. Kunwar Vijay Shah, a tribal affairs minister in Madhya Pradesh and a serial offender in the art of disgrace, has sullied not just the decorum of his office but the honour of India’s armed forces.

Speaking at a public event, Shah referred to Colonel SofiyaQureishi, one of the Army’s most visible faces during the Operation Sindoor briefings, as the “sister of terrorists.”

The Madhya Pradesh High Court, with commendable speed, took suo motu cognisance of the matter, calling Shah’s words “language of the gutters” and ordering that he be booked under multiple sections of the new criminal code including those relating to undermining national integrity and fomenting communal discord. The Court noted with judicial clarity that Shah’s innuendo targeted Qureishi solely for her faith. That this slander was aimed at an Army officer reveals not only the minister’s moral bankruptcy but also his political illiteracy.

India’s armed forces have long stood apart from the divisions that cleave its society.

Colonel Qureishi, a decorated officer, represents the highest ideals of military service - courage, discipline and selfless duty. To reduce her to her faith is not just an insult to her personally, but to the institution she serves. The Indian Army has long prided itself on being a secular, apolitical force that binds the nation. It is ironic and tragic that at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had carefully calibrated a muscular yet measured message through Operation Sindoor, aimed squarely at Pakistan’s terror infrastructure, that effort has now been undermined from within. Vijay Shah’s remarks inject sectarian poison into what should be a moment of national solidarity.

This is not the first time Shah has played the demagogue, a man whose tongue routinely betrays his responsibilities. In 2013, he had to resign from the cabinet over lewd remarks about women in his own party. In 2024, he suggested Hema Malini’s face alone could drive financial savings among the masses. And now, with the country burying its dead from Pahalgam and rallying behind its uniformed forces, Shah chose to drag a senior Army officer through the communal mud.

To disparage a Muslim officer, despite her valour, suggests to the public that Muslims cannot be trusted even when they are defending India. Sacking Vijay Shah is not a test of BJP’s damage-control machinery but a test of its spine. If the ruling party has any real commitment to national unity and the dignity of its armed forces, Vijay Shah must be dismissed immediately. In times of crisis, leaders ought to rise to the occasion. Instead, Shah has dug deeper into the mire.

Vijay Shah is a liability to the republic. Strip him of his title. Do it not for political optics, but for the soul of the nation.