Colonel Sofiya Qureshi’s family joins Modi’s roadshow in Gujarat’s Vadodara

Colonel Qureshi’s parents, Taj Mohammad and Halima Qureshi, welcomed Modi as people lined the streets for the road show that started at Vadodara’s Harni Airport

Updated on: May 26, 2025, 14:20:28 IST

By Maulik Pathak

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The family of Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, one of the two women military officers who held briefings on India’s cross-border strikes on terror infrastructure under Operation Sindoor, joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s roadshow in Gujarat’s Vadodara on Monday.

Colonel Qureshi’s parents, Halima Qureshi and Taj Mohammad. (PTI)

Colonel Qureshi’s parents, Taj Mohammad and Halima Qureshi, welcomed Modi as people lined the streets for the roadshow that started at Vadodara’s Harni Airport and featured cultural performances.

Colonel Qureshi’s twin, Shyna Sunsara, called the meeting with Modi a great honour and the roadshow a moment of pride. “He [Modi] has done a lot for women’s empowerment. Colonel Qureshi is my twin sister. When your sister does something for the country, it inspires me and others as well.”

Sunsar said Colonel Qureshi is no longer just her sister but that of the country. She referred to Colonel Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh’s Operation Sindoor briefings and called them a message to the world that women are not less than anyone.

Taj Mohammad echoed Sunsara over their meeting with Modi. “Sofiya Qureshi is the daughter of the country, who only did her duty,” said Mohammad, who served in the Army’s Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers and fought in the 1971 India-Pakistan War. Colonel Qureshi’s grandfather was part of the Army’s Religious Teacher cadre.

Over 50,000 people were expected to gather for another roadshow of Modi in Ahmedabad later on Monday, the first day of his two-day visit to Gujarat. Modi is scheduled to inaugurate and lay the foundation for development projects worth over ₹82,950 in Dahod, Bhuj, and Gandhinagar during his first visit to his home state after Operation Sindoor. Hoardings have been put across Ahmedabad, celebrating the armed forces’ successes in the operation.

Officials said Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for 33 development projects worth ₹53,414 crore in Bhuj, which was among the places Pakistan targeted with drones in retaliation for the cross-border strikes. These projects encompass the Kandla Port infrastructure, solar energy, power transmission, and road and building development.

In Dahod’s Kharod, Modi will launch railway, water supply, roads, buildings, urban development, and housing projects worth over ₹24,000 crore. He will inaugurate the Locomotive Manufacturing Shop built at a cost of ₹21,405 crore and the first 9000 HP locomotive engine.

Modi will inaugurate railway works worth ₹2,287 crore, including the doubling of Anand–Godhra, Mehsana–Palanpur, and Rajkot–Hadmatiya railway lines, electrification of the 107 km Sabarmati–Botad line, and gauge conversion of the Kalol–Kadi–Katosan line.

On Tuesday, Modi will inaugurate the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre in Gandhinagar and over 22,000 housing units constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana at the cost of ₹1,006 crore. He will lay the foundation stones, including for a new 1800-bed inpatient with an outpatient department in Ahmedabad, including a 500-bed infectious disease unit.

Modi will distribute cheques worth ₹2,731 crore to 17 municipal corporations and ₹569 crore to 149 municipalities under the Swarnim Jayanti Mukhyamantri Shaheri Vikas Yojana for infrastructure projects.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maulik Pathak
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.Read More

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