Madhya Pradesh BJP Minister Vijay Shah may find his latest controversy the hardest the dodge Premium

Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister Vijay Shah faces backlash and legal action over controversial remarks on Colonel Sofiya Qureshi.

As the controversy over his recent remarks on Colonel Sofiya Qureshi spiralled manifold on Wednesday (May 14, 2025), Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister Vijay Shah issued an apology late in the day, saying that he respected the Indian Army officer “more than his real sister”.

“In the recent speech, my wish and intention was to put her [Col. Qureshi’s] point across in a proper manner to the society, but due to my sad and disturbed mind, some wrong words came out, due to which today I am ashamed of myself and I apologize to the entire society and the community,” he said in a video posted on social media platform X. 

Mr. Shah, the Madhya Pradesh Minister for Tribal Affairs, Asset Management, and Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation, apologised after a long day of political backlash from across the nation, demands for his dismissal from Opposition leaders as well as from leaders of his own party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti, under whose tenure Mr. Shah was first made a Minister. 

The biggest setback for Mr. Shah came from the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which set a four-hour deadline for the police to register a First Information Report against him under specific Sections, resulting in a case being lodged late in the night at the Manpur police station in Indore district, where he had made the alleged inflammatory remarks on May 12. 

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While Mr. Shah has held onto his Cabinet berth for now as he has also challenged the High Court’s order in the Supreme Court, this is not the first time that he has had to lose a ministerial position over his statements. 

Months before the 2013 Assembly election, Mr. Shah’s allegedly sexist remarks against the then Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s wife Sadhna Singh had caused an uproar in the State, leading to Mr. Shah’s resignation within days of being pulled up by the BJP leadership of the time.