Sushma Swaraj takes on Twitter trolls by retweeting, 'liking' abuse she received after Lucknow passport row

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj took on online trolls who targeted her over a controversy involving an inter-faith couple in Lucknow accusing a passport officer of bigotry. After returning to India from a tour of several European nations, she tweeted:

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

Following this, Swaraj retweeted a number of vitriolic posts directed at her. While some people had made abusive references to her health problems, others taunted her over granting visas to Pakistani nationals. The Congress responded to the external affairs minister’s statement, saying, “No matter what the situation or reason, nothing calls for threats of violence, disrespect and abuse. Sushma Swaraj ji, we applaud your decision to call out the heinous trolls of your own party.” AAP leader Ashutosh jumped into the controversy and said, “The fault lines between the BJP is (sic) exposed. The vitriolic attack on social media by the troll army on Sushma Swaraj is well-orchestrated. Everyone knows who controls this army. This battle will be sharp as the 2019 elections get closer and the master of the army fears losing.” On 21 June, a Passport Seva Kendra official in Lucknow was transferred after he allegedly humiliated an inter-faith couple, asked the husband to convert to Hinduism and pulled up the wife for marrying a Muslim when they went to the office with their passport applications.

Seeking action, Mohammad Anas Siddiqui and Tanvi Seth, who have been married for 12 years, wrote about their ordeal on Twitter and tagged Swaraj. With inputs from PTI