Opposition Targets BJP Minister For Photo Op As Mourning Mother Of Killed Captain Gupta Pleads "Stop This Exhibition"

The Congress on Friday (24 November) charged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with exploiting a photo opportunity with the mourning mother of a soldier who was killed in a clash with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. According to Congress, BJP leaders continued to take pictures despite the mother's requests to avoid such a "public display".

A video circulated on social media by opposition leaders reveals Captain Shubham Gupta's mother telling Uttar Pradesh Minister Yogendra Upadhyay to "stop this exhibition" or "pradarshani mat lagao" in Hindi, as he tries to give her a cheque. Regardless of her plea, the minister and his associates persist in taking pictures.

The Congress party, on platform X, posted a video accompanied by the caption "vultures".

Priyanka Chaturvedi, a Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, labeled it as a "heartless" deed, expressing that the mother is begging in despair, yet the minister persists with his photo opportunity.

She questions the audacity of such an act, asserting that they won't even permit the bereaved family of the martyr to mourn peacefully without the presence of cameras.

"Captain Shubham Gupta made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty during an encounter in the Rajouri sector. His mother is grieving and eagerly awaiting her son's mortal remains. In the midst of her inconsolable sorrow, UP government’s BJP Minister Yogendra Upadhyay shamelessly persists in having a photograph taken for his PR - this, despite the mother's plea to refrain from turning her grief into a spectacle. Shame," he wrote on X.

Captain Shubham Gupta, hailing from Agra in Uttar Pradesh, was one of the five military officers who lost their lives in a two-day standoff with terrorists in Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir, which took place on Wednesday and Thursday.

Captain Gupta, who is the offspring of a government attorney, enlisted in the Army in 2015. He was inducted into the distinguished ninth battalion of the Army's Parachute regiment, often referred to as the 9 Para SF (Special Forces), in 2018.

Captain MV Pranjal, Havildar Abdul Majid, Lance Naik Sanjay Bisht, and Paratrooper Sachin Laur are among the other military officials who lost their lives in the encounter.

Security officials also eliminated two terrorists from Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of whom was a high-ranking commander.