New Delhi- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday strongly refuted a media report claiming that Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh -- who have been in the spotlight for leading press briefings on Operation Sindoor -- would be featured as the faces of a women-centric campaign marking 11 years of the Modi government. Describing the report published in a leading daily as "fake news", BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya clarified that the party has no such plans involving the two women officers. Tagging the article in his post on X, Malviya wrote, "This is Fake News. The BJP has no plans to use either Col Sofia Qureshi or Wing Commander Vyomika Singh as campaign faces."

The article had quoted BJP Minority Morcha chief Jamal Siddiqui, stating that the party's minority wing would hold 'chaupals' -- public gatherings -- outside mosques, dargahs, churches, and gurudwaras as part of the celebratory campaign. The first of these was reportedly slated to be held in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh. According to the report, "Political experts said that the selection of Colonel Qureshi and Wing Commander Singh as the face of a women-centric campaign by the BJP marks a strategic move that seeks to blend military valour, national pride and gender empowerment into a powerful political narrative."

It further claimed that the BJP had directed its minority wing to highlight Qureshi and Singh as "role models" for women, particularly from minority communities. Malviya responded to these claims by asserting that the report had misrepresented the comments made by Siddiqui. "The comments made by BJP Minority Morcha President Jamal Siddiqui have been misconstrued. He simply made a limited point about highlighting Col Qureshi as an example of an empowered Muslim woman within the community," Malviya said. Siddiqui had noted that the purpose of the campaign was to encourage women, especially from the Minority Morcha, to feel empowered and to consider enrolling in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) or joining the armed forces through the Agniveer scheme. "The idea is to mobilise women and make them feel empowered," Siddiqui was quoted as saying. (IANS)