Amid gaffes by BJP ministers in MP; Shah, Santosh to speak at party training camp on June 14

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will open the BJP's three-day training camp for its leaders in Madhya Pradesh beginning June 14, an event coming in the backdrop of party members, including senior ministers, facing flak for their controversial remarks post-Operation Sindoor.

The training camp will be held at Pachmarhi hill station in Narmadapuram district, around 200km from state capital Bhopal, and Amit Shah, while touching upon a host of issues, will also give tips to participants on bolstering communication skills, a party leader said on Monday.

Along with Amit Shah, a key strategist, BJP general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh, too, will be present on the opening day at the camp to give tips, party's state unit president VD Sharma told PTI.

In the practical session, BJP leaders will be taught the use of social media and the importance of garnering followers on it. Besides, the ruling party's rich culture and history will be highlighted at the event, BJP sources said.

The party move to hold camp has come after two BJP ministers and an MLA in May made controversial statements connected to Operation Sindoor, India's military response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam in Kashmir that left 26 people, mostly tourists, dead.

Under Operation Sindoor, Indian armed forces destroyed terror camps deep inside Pakistan and PoK, and later bombed airbases of the neighbouring country as part of retaliatory strikes.

The BJP, however, clarified nothing should be read into the holding of the camp as such events are held routinely in the saffron outfit.

''It was a pre-planned programme. It has nothing to do with recent statements of BJP leaders. Such events are held routinely and nothing should be read into it,'' MP BJP spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi said.

''Prashikshan-Pratishan (Training and Organisation) is our work culture. They are held regularly and routinely,'' he added.

According to another BJP leader, the last such big camp was held ahead of the 2023 MP assembly polls in Sehore district.

One of the objectives of the event is to teach new leaders and MLAs about the party policies and ideologies, and also to train them in public communication skills. Senior functionaries are going to deliver lectures at the programme, he stated.

The MP high court and the Supreme Court took serious note of state tribal affairs minister Vijay Shah's objectionable comments on Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, one of the officers who led the government briefings on Operation Sindoor, while speaking at a function at Mhow near Indore on May 12.

An FIR was registered against Vijay Shah under the directives of the HC, while the apex court formed a Special Investigation Team to investigate the matter.

Before the political storm could die down, Deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Devda said on May 16 that the Indian armed forces and all soldiers are 'natmastak' (heads bowed) in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving a befitting reply to terrorists and Pakistan.

A day later, first-time BJP MLA from Mangawan in Rewa district, Narendra Prajapati, suggested the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan came after a 'UN' order.

''PM Modi would have finished off Pakistan had we not got orders from the 'UN' to stop,'' Prajapati said at the BJP's 'Tiranga Yatra'.

These controversial statements were slammed by Opposition parties, including the Congress.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)