Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sounded a warning to the leaders of his party who made several injudicious remarks on Operation Sindoor - India's precision strikes on the terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir - sources have said.
At a meeting of Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled states in Delhi, which he chaired, PM Modi, sources said, advised that leaders avoid speaking on every issue and thereby making unnecessary statements.
Controversial statements of some BJP leaders regarding the Pahalgam terrorist violence and Operation Sindoor have made headlines in the recent past, leaving the party in an awkward situation.
Already, Madhya Pradesh Minister Vijay Shah triggered a massive uproar with his sexist comment on Colonel Sofiya Qureshi - the face of the armed forces during press briefings on Operation Sindoor. The matter has reached the Supreme Court and hugely irked the judges.
Mr Shah had shockingly referred to Colonel Qureshi as the "sister of terrorists" at a public event and said a woman from the "same community" as those living in Pakistan had been sent to strip the country naked.
"You widowed sisters of our community, so a sister of your community will strip you naked. (Prime Minister) Modi ji proved that the daughters of your community can be sent to Pakistan to take revenge," the minister had said.
Over this weekend, the BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Ram Chander Jangra appeared to criticise the women who lost their husbands in the horrific terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. They became victims because they lacked heroic qualities, enthusiasm and zeal, the MP had said.
Addressing a gathering at Haryana's Bhiwani during an event to mark the 300th birth anniversary of visionary 18th-century Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar, Mr Jangra said: "The women who lost their husbands lacked the warrior spirit, enthusiasm and zeal... Terrorists do not spare anyone because they fold their hands. Our people died with folded hands... Had the tourists passed the (Agniveer) training, three terrorists could not have killed 26 people."
Asked later how he expected the women to fight against terrorists, the MP said, "Ahilyabai Holkar was a woman, so was Rani Lakshmibai, did they not fight? We want our sisters to be brave and live courageously."
