A number of Congress leaders have come to the rescue of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who had been battling social media trolls over an incident of alleged harassment of an inter-faith couple who had issues over getting passports.
Over the weekend, Twitter was flooded with vicious messages to Swaraj, some calling for her assassination, some making jibes for granting visas to “Pakistanis” and others saying her judgement was clouded by her “Islamic kidney”.
Not to be cowed down, Swaraj took the trolls head on by re-tweeting a couple of offensive tweets.
“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,” the External Affairs Minister said in her inimitable style.
Arch-rival from the Congress came to Swaraj's defence, with Randeep Singh Surjewala, the in-charge of the AICC Communications Department, stating that such things happen in authoritative regimes. “This is a threat to democracy,” Surjewala said.
“No matter the situation or reason, nothing calls for threats of violence, disrespect & abuse. Sushma Swaraj ji, we applaud your decision to call out the heinous trolls of your own party,” the Congress tweeted.
Surprisingly, no Union Minister or BJP leader spoke in the defence of Swaraj, which was also pointed out by Twitterati.
“Those who didn't stand up for their own lady minister when she was trolled by BJPs own troll army (Some blessed to be followed by PM)... are now dispensing gyaan on speaking up and acting on an issue. Rest assured we will, when do you plan to hold your own hypocrisy accountable,” Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said.
“The troll attack on Sushma Swaraj ji is disgraceful. She is a good parliamentarian & always respectful of others. I wish her well & condemn such attacks on her,” Sushmita Dev, President of the All India Mahila Congress said.
At the centre of the controversy was a complaint from one Tanvi Seth who claimed that an official at the passport office in Lucknow verbally lashed out at her for marrying a Muslim and did not approve her application for a passport.
After Swaraj's intervention, the Ministry of External Affairs handed over their passports and promised “appropriate action” against the employee concerned.
A day after, the passport officer in question held a press conference in his defence and claimed that he had asked Tanvi Seth to use her Muslim name mentioned in her 'Nikahnama' which she refused to do.
The passport officer’s statement angered the right wing Twitterati who felt Swaraj's actions of expediting the delivery of passport and taking action against the officer was an attempt to appease minorities.
