Rajnath Singh lone BJP voice in government to support Sushma Swaraj

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Rajnath Singh was the lone voice in the Narendra Modi government to come out in support of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. He termed her trolling, reportedly by BJP sympathisers who are followed by many central ministers, as “absolutely wrong”. Swaraj was trolled on social media for helping an interfaith couple harassed by passport officials.

“I consider this absolutely wrong,” home minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday in response to a question from reporters on the trolling of Swaraj. Singh also called up Swaraj to express his solidarity with her Cabinet colleague, sources said.

Swaraj was trolled for helping Tanvi, a Muslim woman married to a Hindu, get a passport from the Regional Passport Office in Lucknow and for the transfer of a passport office employee who had allegedly mistreated her.


Swaraj, who was abroad when the incident took place, faced abusive tweets from right-wing trolls. One troll asked her husband, Swaraj Kaushal, to beat her up when she comes home. Kaushal tweeted in support of his wife and recalled how she had taken care of his mother when she was suffering from cancer. Reacting to the troll, he said the words used had caused him “unbearable pain”.

Though politicians from other political parties spoke out against the trolls and supported Swaraj, BJP has maintained a deafening silence. Asked for a reaction, a BJP leader said now that a senior leader like Rajnath Singh has spoken there is no need for others to speak on the issue.

Some other BJP l eader s said trolling is an “occupational hazard” and even the likes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah are not spared.

However, the diff e r -ence here is that Swaraj was trolled by those who have always strongly supported BJP on social media. “Do you think the party would have been silent had Shah or Modi been trolled in the manner Sushma ji has been?” a BJP leader sympathetic to Swaraj said.

Some leaders were of the view that more reactions to the issue will only keep the matter alive, a scenario that does not suit the party.

“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.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee came out in support of Swaraj on Monday evening, saying she strongly condemns the language used on social media. “She is a senior politician. We must respect each other and must never indulge in any form of verbal abuse,” Banerjee said on twitter.