A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Madhya Pradesh has called for mandatory Army training for everyone between 18 and 30 years of age, while claiming that India could also face a political unrest like its neighbouring countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh.
Panna Lal Shakya, an MLA from Guna, made the remarks on Thursday (September 11, 2025) while addressing a programme of scooter distribution to students and said that the country could face a “civil war” and
“There has been fire [unrest] in Sri Lanka and a coup in Bangladesh. Afghanistan has been in a poor state. An Army of terrorists is getting ready in Pakistan. And only yesterday, people have also destroyed Nepal. All eyes are no on India. If did not pay attention to this and people between 18 and 30 years did not get ready, many incidents will happen that will may ignite a civil war in our country,” Mr. Shakya said.
While likening them to a young Lord Ram, Mr. Shakya asked the youth to be ready for any situation and ask them to worry about “the challenges the country will face in its development”.
“Nalanda University had about 12,000 students and 1,200 teachers but 11 people set it on fire but nobody came out to protect the institution. If anything like this happens in our country, who will step out? I will definitely happen because I can see it,” he said, while alerting the District Collector who was present at the event.
“The borders are safe but who will do [protect the country] inside? The safety inside the country is also necessary. This is why I request the Collector to send s proposal [to the government] to start military training for people between 18 and 30 years of age,” he said.
When contacted, Mr. Shakya didn’t not clarify on his comments and said, “We can show it to you if you come to Guna”.
Published – September 13, 2025 02:57 am IST
