Rajnath Singh File image
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday termed the trolling of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj as "absolutely wrong."
"In my opinion, it is absolutely wrong," Singh told reporters here when asked to comment on the issue.
Facing online abuse over a passport row involving an interfaith couple, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj initiated a poll on Twitter asking users whether they approve of such trolling. 43 per cent said yes and 57 per cent no.
The minister's husband Swaraj Kaushal, in an emotional response to a troll, said the Twitter user's harsh words had caused "unbearable pain" to his family.
"In a democracy difference of opinion is but natural. Pls do criticise but not in foul language. Criticism in decent language is always more effective," Swaraj said on Twitter yesterday.
The external affairs minister had re-tweeted some of the offensive tweets directed at her following the transfer of Passport Seva Kendra official Vikas Mishra in Lucknow for allegedly humiliating the interfaith couple.
Mishra was transferred from Lucknow to Gorakhpur after the couple alleged that he humiliated them when they went to the office with their passport applications.
According to the couple, Mishra asked the husband to convert to Hinduism and pulled up the wife for marrying a Muslim.
Mishra had said in his defence that he was secular and had told the woman that her 'nikahnama' showed her name as Shazia Anas, which should be endorsed in her file.
A section of social media had attacked Swaraj and the ministry for taking action against Mishra, claiming that he was just doing his duty. The minister took it on the chin and retweeted some of the tweets that were abusive and communal in nature.
