Close to a hundred citizens have written to President Draupadi Murmu in her capacity as Supreme Commander of India’s Armed Forces to “safeguard their honour and self-respect” especially given problematic statements made BJP leaders like Jagdish Devda and Vijay Shah in the context of the recent Indo-Pak conflict. Devda is deputy chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and Vijay Shah, a minister in the same government.
Signatories like Mrs Lalitha Ramdas, wife of Admiral Ramdas (retired), former Chief of the Indian Navy, Vishnu Bhagwat (retired), former Chief of the Indian Navy, Lt. General (Retd) Vijay Oberoi, Vice Admiral (Retd) Sanjay Misra, Major M G Devasahayam IAS (Retd), and EAS Sarma IAS (Retd) among several others have stated that such derogatory statements made by these two Ministers can “adversely affect the morale of the serving personnel of our Armed Forces resulting in the weakening of national security and territorial integrity.” Hence the signatories have demanded that both the Centre and the State should therefore initiate decisive action against the two Ministers for making such derogatory statements under the relevant provisions of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh should remove forthwith the two Ministers from the State Cabinet. The central leadership of the concerned party should publicly condemn the derogatory statements made by the two Ministers and initiate action against them.
The signatories, in their open letter, dated May 17, 2025, have added that, because of the stringent Rules and discipline in the Armed Forces its members are unable to respond to these derogatory statements and humiliation. Therefore, as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces they have urged President of India, Draupadi Murmu to defend the honour and self-respect of the brave Indian Armed Forces by directing appropriate action against those indulging in such denigration and preventing the same in the future.
It may be recalled that statements made by deputy chief minister, Madhya Pradesh, Jagdish Devda and minister Vijay Shah came in for sharp criticism some weeks ag during the recent Indo-Pak conflict. First, Madhya Pradesh Minister Vijay Shah made a public statement referring to Col Sofia Qureshi, the official spokesperson for the defence forces as the “(terrorists) wiped the sindoor of our sisters and daughters (in the context of the recent Pahalgaon attack by terrorists), and we sent their own sister to give it back to them in kind ” openly betraying his gender-insensitive, non-secular, divisive state of mind, a statement that tends to deprecate women in general, incite communal fissures and insult the defence forces.
Second, Deputy CM Jagdish Devda, speaking at a training session for civil defence volunteers in Jabalpur on Friday, controversially told the audience, “Pradhanmantri ji ko bhi dhanyawad dena chahenge, aur pura desh, desh ki wo sena, wo sainik, unke charno mein natmastak hain. Unke charno mein pura desh natmastak hai. Unhone jo jawab diya hai (We would also like to thank the Prime Minister; the entire country, the country’s Army, its soldiers are bowing at his feet. The entire country is bowing at his feet. For the response he gave).”
The open communication also recalls and records that earlier, Shri Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of UP made a similar derogatory statement against the defence forces by calling the armed forces, “Modiji ki sena” in April 2019. Through all of these remarks that affect the dignity and morale of the forces the Government has chosen to remain silent in the matter leading to the repetition of the humiliation of the Armed Forces!
Besides, Shri Adityanath’s earlier statement and Shri Devda’s latest statement showed their outright disrespect for the letter and spirit of Article 53 of the Constitution, which defines executive power of the Union as follows:
“(1) The executive power of the Union shall be vested in the President and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with this Constitution.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, the supreme command of the Defence Forces of the Union shall be vested in the President and the exercise thereof shall be regulated by law.
(3) Nothing in this article shall—
(a) be deemed to transfer to the President any functions conferred by any existing law on the Government of any State or other authority;” In other words, under Article 52(2) of the Constitution, the supreme command of the Defence Forces of the Union shall vest in the President of India and no other authority.
Finally, the letter records that it is unfortunate that, instead of questioning and condemning these “despicable acts” senior leaders of BJP at the national level and their handlers are supporting them. In conclusion, the signatories have stated that while expressing solidarity with Col Sofia Qureshi and the Defence Forces in general for their unwavering commitment to safeguarding national security, we unequivocally condemn the statements made by the two Ministers.
Signatories:
- Mrs Lalita Ramdas, Wife of Admiral (Retd) L. Ramdas, Former Chief of the Naval Staff
- Admiral (Retd) Vishnu Bhagwat, Former Chief of the Naval Staff
- General (Retd) Vijay Oberoi
- Vice Admiral (Retd) Sanjay Misra
- Major M G Devasahayam IAS (Retd)
- EAS Sarma IAS (Retd)
- Surendra Nath IAS (Retd)
- Prof (Retd) Sebastian Morris (IIM, Ahmedabad)Thomas Franco (People First)
- Joe Athialy (Centre for Financial Accountability)
- Dinesh Abrol (Delhi Science Forum)
- Soumya Dutta (MAUSAM, Environmental Activist)
- V Sridhar (Journalist, Bengaluru)
- Prasad Chacko (People’s Union for Civil Liberties )
- Vijayakumar (Indian School of Social Sciences)
- Smita Ramanathan (Social Activist)
- R. Sankari (TNGPA)
- Teesta Setalvad (Human Rights Activist)
- Vivekanandan (Retd Professor, MUTA)
- K Ashok Rao (Patron All India Power Engineers Frederation)
- Kaushik Majumdar (Social Activist)
- Vivekaanandhan (TANRECTA)
- Praveer Peter (Sajha Kadam (for Peace & Harmony)
- Venkatesh Athreya (Retd Professor, Economist)
- Nityanand Jayaraman (Chennai Solidarity Group)
- Amanulla Khan (All India Insurance Employees’ Association)
- Tara Rao (Eddelu Karnataka)
- Uma Shankari (Social Activist)
- Meera Sanghamitra, Social Activist (NAPM), Telangana
- Madhu Bhaduri, Delhi
- Malathi N Thomas, Karnataka
- Prabhat Patnaik, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
- Arun Kumar, Haryana
- Cedric Prakash, Gujarat
- Arun Kumar
- Vivekanandan TD, Tamil Nadu
- Ambassador K P Fabian, Delhi
- Ashok Sharma IFS (Retd), UP
- Elizabeth D’Souza , Mumbai
- A. Nathan – President – New Life People’s Party, Tamilnadu
- Sushil, Karnataka
- Beena Choksi, Maharashtra
- Sathish Kumar, Tamil Nadu
- Sabina Basha, Karnataka
- Biraj Mehta, Maharashtra
- Rahul George, Karnataka
- Sabala, Maharashtra
- John Dayal, Delhi
- Chellappa, Tamil Nadu
- Maj Sharat Chandra Singh (DGM BOI Retd) Uttar Pradesh
- H.S Gujral Punjab
- Sharad Behar, IAS Retired Madhya Pradesh
- Armaity Irani, Maharashtra
- Mariadasa, Tamilnadu
- Prabhat Sharan (Senior Journalist), Maharashtra
- Ravi Budhiraja IAS(Retd), Maharashtra
- Ashish Kajla, Delhi
- Aruna Rodrigues, Madhya Pradesh
- AlokPerti, Delhi
- Calvin Dsouza, Goa
- Madhu Bhaduri, Delhi
- Peter, Tamilnadu
- Bob Monteiro, Karnataka
- Mariadasan, Tamilnadu
- Amanulla Khan, Karnataka
- Mohamed Imran, Tamilnadu
- S.M Sebastian, Tamilnadu
- Pranjali Tripathi, Delhi
- Kirity Roy, MASUM, West Bengal
- Aditya Mukherjee, Delhi
- Narendra Panjwani, Maharashtra
- M.Fidelis, Tamil Nadu
- Ramesh Dixit, Uttar Pradesh
- Koshi Philip, Tamilnadu
- Neera Burra, New Delhi
- Antony Ravi J, Tamil Nadu
- Maya Krishna Rao, Karnataka
- Ivy Lobo Karnataka
- S Om Prakash, Karnataka
- Kripa Noronha, Karnataka
- Mridula Mukherjee, Delhi
- Hilarius, Tamilnadu
- Justice D. Hariparanthaman (Retd)
- Sarbendu Guha, West Bengal
- T.R. Colaso, Karnataka
- Samrat, Delhi
- Captain Subbarao Prabhala IN Retd, Karnataka
- Naveen Yadav, Delhi
- Nagalsamy, Tamilnadu
- Varsha, Telangana
- Gleetus, Tamil Nadu
- Anjali Bhardwaj, Delhi
- Amrita Johri, Delhi
This blogpost was first published in SabrangIndia and can be read here.
