Bhopal:
The Madhya Pradesh authorities is making ready to defend earlier than the Supreme Court docket its determination to not grant sanction for the prosecution of senior cupboard minister Kunwar Vijay Shah over his controversial remarks regarding Military officer Colonel Sofiya Qureshi.
The state authorities’s response is anticipated to be filed earlier than the Supreme Court docket within the coming days after scrutiny by authorized consultants, the Chief Secretary and the Chief Minister’s Workplace. On the centre of the reply is a five-point defence explaining why the Cupboard believes there usually are not enough grounds to prosecute Shah.
The federal government’s first argument is that no particular person got here ahead to lodge a grievance in opposition to Vijay Shah after the controversial assertion. It’s anticipated to inform the Supreme Court docket that regardless of the political and public controversy surrounding the remarks, there was no non-public complainant in search of prison motion in opposition to the minister.
Read: Madhya Pradesh Governor Backs Move To Deny Probe Sanction Against Minister
The second argument is that Shah didn’t point out Colonel Sofiya Qureshi by title in his assertion. The federal government additionally maintains that the minister didn’t intend to insult Colonel Qureshi or every other particular person by way of his remarks.
The state can be relying closely on Shah’s apologies. Based on the federal government’s proposed response, Shah apologised thrice and likewise expressed remorse in writing. The Cupboard has taken the place that these repeated apologies must be thought-about whereas deciding whether or not prison prosecution is warranted.
The federal government has additional described the episode as a human error. Its case is that, given the circumstances, Shah’s repeated expressions of remorse and the absence of what it considers deliberate intent, there’s not a enough foundation to grant sanction for prosecution.
One other key a part of the federal government’s defence is its competition that Shah’s assertion didn’t disturb communal concord. The state is anticipated to argue that there was neither any precise disruption of communal peace nor any intention on the minister’s half to create such a disturbance.
The Cupboard headed by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had on August 25 determined in opposition to granting sanction to prosecute Shah. The advice was subsequently despatched to Governor Mangubhai Patel, who accepted the Cupboard’s determination. The federal government will now place these arguments earlier than the Supreme Court docket.
However past the authorized reasoning being ready for courtroom lies an unavoidable political query. Why is the federal government so reluctant to behave in opposition to Vijay Shah?
The reply lies in Shah’s uncommon political weight inside the BJP and in Madhya Pradesh’s tribal politics.
Vijay Shah will not be an unusual minister. He has received eight consecutive Meeting elections since 1990 and has remained a fixture in Madhya Pradesh politics for greater than three a long time. Throughout eight phrases as an MLA, he has served in governments from the Uma Bharti period to the current Mohan Yadav administration.
Through the years, Shah has dealt with 5 completely different portfolios. He has headed the Tribal Welfare Division thrice and the Forest Division twice. He has additionally held cost of College Schooling, Tourism and Tradition, and Meals and Civil Provides.
That longevity in authorities has been matched by deep political affect on the bottom.
Shah is a scion of the Makrai royal household and belongs to the Rajgond clan. He’s thought-about one of many BJP’s most distinguished tribal faces in Madhya Pradesh, significantly amongst Gond voters.
That social base is politically essential. Scheduled Tribes account for round 22 p.c of Madhya Pradesh’s inhabitants. The state has 47 Meeting seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes, whereas tribal voters affect the result in lots of extra constituencies. In all, tribal-dominated seats account for a major share of the Meeting.
The Gond group is among the largest tribal teams within the state and accounts for a serious share of Madhya Pradesh’s tribal inhabitants. Shah’s standing inside this social bloc provides him political significance far past his personal constituency.
For almost 4 a long time, he has held sway over Harsud and surrounding areas. His eight consecutive victories have made him one of many BJP’s most entrenched regional leaders.
That’s the reason any motion in opposition to him is politically sophisticated.
For the ruling get together, eradicating Shah, prosecuting him or publicly distancing itself from him carries the chance of unsettling an influential tribal chief with a long-standing community and a loyal electoral base.
His political survival after earlier controversies additionally reveals how fastidiously the get together has dealt with him up to now.
In 2013, after controversial remarks regarding ladies at an occasion in Jhabua triggered criticism, Shah was faraway from the Cupboard. However his exclusion lasted solely round 4 months earlier than he returned to ministerial workplace.
Greater than a decade later, one other controversy has once more put him on the centre of a political and authorized storm.
This time, nonetheless, the matter is earlier than the Supreme Court docket.
Shah got here beneath extreme criticism after a video surfaced in Might 2025 exhibiting him making objectionable remarks within the context of Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who had gained nationwide prominence throughout the media briefings on Operation Sindoor.
The Madhya Pradesh Excessive Court docket took suo motu cognisance of the remarks, sharply criticised Shah and directed police to register an FIR in opposition to him on expenses together with selling enmity and hatred.
The case subsequently reached the Supreme Court docket, which sought a standing report from the Particular Investigation Group constituted by the Madhya Pradesh authorities.
Shah expressed remorse after the controversy. The Supreme Court docket, nonetheless, later pulled him up over the character of his apology and questioned whether or not his response was sufficient.
