NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj faced unprecedented trolling from right wing brigade for helping Lucknow interfaith couple Tanvi Seth and Mohammad Anas Siddiqui in passport row.
Many of the trolls describing themselves as self-described fans and supporters of PM Modi attacked Swaraj and the ministry for taking action against Vikas Mishra, a Lucknow-based passport officer.
Swaraj was on a four-nation visit when the controversy erupted. On Sunday, 24 June, Swaraj took to Twitter to highlight the tweets that are hateful abusive and communal in nature. In a sarcastic tweet, she wrote:
I was out of India from 17th to 23rd June 2018. I do not know what happened in my absence. However, I am honoured with some tweets. I am sharing them with you. So I have liked them.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 24, 2018
Captain Sarbjit Dhillon from Punjab, astonishingly mocked Swaraj’s health condition. His tweet, retweeted by Swaraj, read, “She is almost dead woman as she runs on only one kidney (borrowed from some one else) and any time that can stop working.”
She is almost dead woman as she runs on only one kidney (borrowed from some one else ) and any time that can stop working .
— Capt Sarbjit Dhillon (@dhillonsarbjit2) June 22, 2018
Another tweet by one Indra Bajpai, a resident of Haridwar, wrote, “Shame on you mam” before asking if her ministry’s decision was an “effect of your islamic kidney?” Interestingly, Bajpai’s Facebook profile describes her an ‘artist’ who owns ‘3D Mural Arts.’
A shocking tweet comes from user called Bharat1, who called for the minister’s assassination.
Bharat1 wrote, “She will come out in public sometimes- Must finish her ASAP wherever & whosoever spots her.”
He further abuse Swaraj calling her an illegitimate child.
Biased decision #ISupportVikasMishra shame on you mam…is it effect of your islamic kidney??
— Anandi Shri (@MaaTierra) June 22, 2018
Plenty of people on Twitter, even her political rivals and politically neutral journalists backed her and slammed the the abusers.
No matter the situation or reason, nothing calls for threats of violence, disrespect & abuse. @SushmaSwaraj ji, we applaud your decision to call out the heinous trolls of your own party.https://t.co/qcB0qemRGZ
— Congress (@INCIndia) June 24, 2018
Former diplomat KC Singh wrote,
Look at the irony. Sushma Swaraj has blocked on Twitter voices like mine for berating her Lalit Modi dalliance. Now over #SushmaExposesBJP when Bhakts singe her over helping interfaith couple with passports she needs people like us to defend her. All one can say is 🙏🏼.
— K. C. Singh (@ambkcsingh) June 24, 2018
Journalist Sagarika Ghose wrote, “Unbelievable. @SushmaSwaraj is a natural-born leader from the Vajpayee @BJP4India which always abided by parliamentary democracy.”
Unbelievable. @SushmaSwaraj is a natural-born leader from the Vajpayee @BJP4India which always abided by parliamentary democracy. https://t.co/IfdKCEvOCo
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) June 24, 2018
More than 30,000 BJP supporters launched a concerted campaign to downgrade Swaraj’s Facebook page. In a span of just a few hours, the rating had gone down from 4.3 star to 1.4 star forcing the admin of the union minister to remove the ‘Reviews’ option button from her page.
Mishra, the passport officer in question, was transferred after he allegedly discriminated against a Hindu-Muslim couple and asked a Muslim man, married to a Hindu woman, to convert to Hinduism.