LUCKNOW: Ashoka University’s Associate Professor, Ali Khan Mahmudabad, recently faced criticism from the government and various quarters, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), over a social media post concerning Operation Sindoor.
While Khan claimed that his post was meant to appreciate the armed forces for choosing Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh to lead a press conference, many in the government and BJP sources perceived the post differently.
According to those sources, Khan’s remarks were viewed not as a show of support for India but rather as a critique suggesting that the government should pursue non-military responses to acts of terrorism. His use of the term “optic” in reference to the two women officers briefing the media on Operation Sindoor was especially criticised, with sources alleging that it revealed a questionable intent.
In a lengthy post, Ali had written “The optics of two women soldiers presenting their findings is importantly but optics must translate to reality on the ground otherwise it is just hypocrisy.”
Speaking to this newspaper, senior BJP and government officials stated that the use of the words “optics” and “hypocrisy” in reference to two female officers was inappropriate and appeared to cast aspersions. Ali had also written in his post that, for him “the press conference was just a fleeting glimpse, an illusion and allusion perhaps, to an India that defied the logic on which Pakistan was built.”
He further said, “As I said, the grassroots reality that common Muslims face is different from what the government tried to show but at the same time the press conference shows that an India, united in its diversity, is not completely dead as an idea”.
Many netizens, including Akhilesh Mishra, CEO of BlueKraft Digital Foundation, criticised Ali Khan, calling him a man “indulged in insidious propaganda” and accused him of echoing Pakistan's talking points during a time of near-conflict.
“It was a treacherous attempt to insert a Hindu-Muslim rift just a day after the Operation Sindoor strikes and while Pakistan was still sending drones into India. Whose agenda was it serving other than Pakistan,” Mishra wrote in a post.
BJP IT cell national head Amit Malviya also reposted Mishra’s post on Ali. Taking further aim at Ali for raising local issues such as lynching, Mishra questioned, “If local law and order issues are relevant in a discussion on Pakistan, then why is the Murshidabad mass violence against Hindus in West Bengal not relevant? In fact, it is the most recent case of communal lynching.”
One netizen, Sanjeev Shukla, responded to Mishra’s post by alleging that Ali Khan was being backed by “pseudo-intellectuals and the Pariwarvadi party”. Several BJP supporters and sources also criticised Khan, saying his post sent a wrong message at a time when India was facing a near-war-like situation due to Pakistan-backed terrorism.
