A family of four stole part of the limelight during and after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s road show in Vadodara on Monday, held to celebrate the success of Operation Sindoor.
The parents, brother and twin sister of Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, one of the faces of the media briefings on the military operation, stood among the crowd on the roadside and tossed rose petals as the Prime Minister’s motorcade passed by.
Col Qureshi’s father, Taj Mohammad, who too has served in the army, said Modi recognised them and greeted them.
“We greeted the Prime Minister with flowers. Colonel Qureshi is not only our daughter but the daughter of the country,” mother Halima Qureshi said.
Modi and his party, accused in the past of making political use of military success, have been milking Operation Sindoor. Party leaders have attributed the operation’s success to the Prime Minister, who has claimed that “hot sindoor” (vermilion) and not blood courses through his veins.
On Monday, the effort seemed to acquire a coat of sheen with the presence at the road show of the Vadodara-based family of Colonel Qureshi, who has emerged as a symbol of the military operation to many Indians.
Modi, who is on a two-day visit to his home state, was driven along a 1km stretch from the airport to the air force station in Vadodara.
Cheering crowds lined both sides of the street, waving the Tricolour, chanting “Bharat Mata ki jai” and throwing rose petals as Modi hung out of his SUV and waved.
Colonel Qureshi’s parents, twin sister Shyna Sunsara and brother Sanjay Qureshi can be seen among the crowd in a video shared by Modi on YouTube.
The Mumbai-based Sunsara, who was born 15 minutes after her sister, told reporters she was unable to “express in words” the feeling of greeting the Prime Minister.
“It was a very different moment. I cannot express it in words,” said the former beauty queen whose accomplishments straddle the words of modelling, fashion designing, environmentalism, economics and rifle shooting.
“It felt as if he was giving a message to the world that we are standing with you all, and no one needs to be scared.”
One interviewer brought up the elephant in the room: Wasn’t the family disappointed by a BJP minister’s reference to Colonel Quereshi as a “sister” of the Pahalgam terrorists in an allusion to her religion?
Brother Sanjay sidestepped the question. “It’s all political. The matter is being taken care of by the courts. We don’t want to comment on it,” he said.
Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah has been excoriated by the Supreme Court for his tasteless remark about Colonel Qureshi, and Madhya Pradesh High Court has got an FIR registered against him. The BJP has, however, not punished Shah.
Sanjay thanked Modi for his sister’s selection as an Operation Sindoor spokesperson.
“A woman taking revenge for the suffering of other women (who lost male relatives in the Pahalgam massacre) — what can be better than this?” he said.