Trolls supporting Modi call for Sushma Swaraj’s assassination; Minister fights back
In a shocking development, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj faced unprecedented trolling by the supporters of her own party when the BJP’s troll army posted nasty and abusive comments against her on social media.
It has been reported that the right wing workers were not happy with Swaraj over her ministry’s decision to fast-track the passport application process of one interfaith couple, who had alleged harassment by a Lucknow-based passport officer, Vikas Mishra.
It may be recalled here that the MEA had acted swiftly and ordered Mishra’s transfer after receiving complaints from Tanvi Seth and her husband Anas Siddiqui, the interfaith couple. This attracted the anger of the fanatic elements within the BJP, who immediately chose to communalise the issue. They first trolled the minister in her absence as she was on a foreign trip and then launched a concerted campaign to downgrade Swaraj’s Facebook rating, forcing the minister to remove the ‘Reviews’ button from her page.
On Swaraj’s Facebook page, BJP’s troll army posted nasty and abusive comments against the minister while reviewing her page negatively. Such was the campaign that the rating of Swaraj’s page went down from 4.3 (out of 5) star to 1.4 star in just a few hours.
However, far from being fazed by the nasty trolling, Swaraj took to Twitter to not just announce her return but also name and shame her trolls. Her tormentors on Twitter included some, who are followed by high-profile BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In her tweet, Swaraj even sarcastically wrote that she was ‘honoured with some tweet’ adding that she was sharing them with her followers.
It read, “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.”
Notable among them was a tweet by one Captain Sarbjit Dhillon from Punjab, who 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 someone else) and any time that can stop working.”
Dhillon, many journalists pointed out, had served in the Indian armed forces and was associated with the BJP in Punjab. He was referring to Swaraj’s reported kidney transplant that she underwent in 2016 in Delhi. 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 as an ‘artist’ who owns ‘3D Mural Arts.’
The biggest shocker came from a user called Bharat1, who called for the minister’s assassination. Using a morphed photo of the external affairs minister, being portrayed as someone with a soft spot for Pakistan, the user issued a chilling warning. Calling people to assassinate her, Bharat1 wrote, “She will come out in public sometimes- Must finish her ASAP wherever & whosoever spots her.”
Meanwhile, the Congress party tweeted from its official account applauding Swaraj’s decision to call out the ‘heinous trolls of your party.’ “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,” the Congress party’s tweet said.
Journalist Sagarika Ghose wrote, “Unbelievable. @SushmaSwaraj is a natural-born leader from the Vajpayee @BJP4India which always abided by parliamentary democracy.”
However, some analysts believe that the vicious campaign against Swaraj was created by a design within the top leadership in the BJP, which plans to contest the next year’s Lok Sabha polls using the hardcore Hindutva narrative. This, according to experts, will help Modi hide his failures in governance in the last four years.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
