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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Delhi: Father, son held for killing 19-year-old woman in suspected honour killing
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police has arrested a man and his son for allegedly murdering his 19-year-old daughter in west Delhi's Hari Nagar area, an official said on Friday.
The case first came to light on April 1 after a PCR call was received around 2 pm, alleging that a woman had been killed by her family members and her body was being taken for last rites, he said.
The accused, identified as Mohammad Maneer (55), a vegetable vendor, and his son Meraj Ali (19), were arrested in connection with the case, the officer said.
The victim had been in a relationship with a man from her native place for the past two years, which was opposed by her father, Maneer and brother Meraj, he said.
"When the girl did not end the relationship despite objections, the family killed her," the officer said.
On April 1, the police said that when their team reached the spot, they found that the woman's body was being taken for burial.
Acting on the input, the burial process was stopped over suspicion of honour killing.
"Police intercepted the family members and took possession of the body," he said.
Police said that the man who had made the PCR told them that the woman was in love with his cousin.
During the inquiry, police also interacted with the PCR caller, who said his cousin, a friend of the deceased, had informed him about the situation and suspected foul play, prompting him to alert the police control room.
The body of the woman was subsequently shifted to the mortuary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital for preservation and postmortem.
Police said that both the crime team and the forensic science laboratory (FSL) team were called to inspect the scene and collect evidence.
Police said that, as per the postmortem report, the cause of death was identified as smothering, indicating that the woman was suffocated.
A preliminary inquiry also revealed that the family had initiated preparations for the last rites soon after the woman's death, raising suspicion about the circumstances.
Initial investigation pointed to the family's opposition to the woman's relationship.
"The family members of the woman saw her with the man, and she was taken back home. We got to know that she was beaten up and even locked inside the house for some days," a source said.
Further investigation into the matter is underway, police added.
