New Delhi: Congress on Monday condemned trolling of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj but noted the she was was a victim of a “monster” created by her own BJP.
Talking to reporters, Congress spokesperson Abhisehk Manu Singhvi said: “I have condemned it on the first day…. Congress Party has never supported it. Anybody who creates a Frankenstein’s monster must remember that the definition of Frankenstein’s monster is that they swallow you up.
“Anybody who rides a tiger must know that the tiger decides when to eat you up, you cannot decide when to dismount. This is a tiger put beneath Sushma Swaraj by the party to which she belongs (BJP).”
Noting Sushma Swaraj could not say so herself, he said: “Let me say it on her behalf. She is the victim of the Frankenstein monster and the tiger which her party has created. How many of her party colleagues have condemned it? Congress party has condemned it.
“A worse trolling has been done against my colleague Priyanka Chaturvedi. It does not matter whether it is Priyanka Chaturvedi or Sushma Swaraj – how does it matter? The point is – Is this India we want to live in?”
Singhvi also said that social media was there earlier too and “not invented four years ago”. “The message you (trolls) are sending is that the climate you are creating, is precisely this climate. Today it can bite you, tomorrow it will bite you, it will bite her, and it will bite me,” he said.
In a tweet which was brought down later following an outrage, user @GirishK1605 had threatened to harm Chaturvedi’s minor daughter.
Responding to it, Chaturvedi tweeted: “Thank you. I am glad I belong to a party which has no space for such abuse. Wish someone would take a similar stand for Sushma ji in support from her party’s platform. Alas those who endorse such abuse will never condemn.”
When Sushma Swaraj on Sunday initiated a poll on Twitter, asking the users whether they approve of such trolling, out of 1,24,305 votes, 57 per cent respondents backed her but 43 per cent supported the trolls.
IANS