After being badly trolled over a passport row involving an interfaith couple, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has initiated a poll on Twitter condemning such posts and asking if this kind of online trolling should be approved.
As per the reports, over 1,10,000 people have participated in the poll, out of which 47% stand with such trolls, while, the remaining 53% are showing their support in favour of Sushma.
After the poll ended, Swaraj tweeted, “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.”
In addition to her response, Swaraj has also blocked a well-known Twitter user Sonam Mahajan, yesterday, after the latter tweeted a request to the minister.
“Yeh good governance dene aaye the. Yeh lo bhai, achhe din aa gaye hain. @SushmaSwaraj ji, I was once a fan and fought against those who abused you, ab aap please, mujhe bhi block karke, inaam dijiye. Intezaar rahegaa,” Mahajan tweeted.
Passport Controversy:
All this started with the controversy involving the issuance of the passport to the interfaith couple.
The couple alleged that the passport officer Vikas Mishra misbehaved and humiliated them when they went to his office with their passport applications.
As a result, Sushma Swaraj transferred the officer from Lucknow to Gorakhpur and issued the passports to the couple.
According to the couple, the officer pulled up the wife for marrying a Muslim and asked the husband to convert his religion to Hinduism.
While defending himself, the officer had said that he was being secular and had asked the woman just to endorse her name in the file as shown by her Nikahnama.
A section of the social media, thus, attacked Sushma and trolled her badly claiming that the officer was just doing his duty and transferring him to Gorakhpur could make BJP lose its vote bank secured by the Hindu people.
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Swaraj’s Comeback:
Although Sushma Swaraj had been silent initially regarding all such trolls, she has made a major comeback now by refuting and retweeting all such posts confidently on her own.
As a result, a good number of Union Ministers and celebrities have also come forward in her support.
“I feel @Twitter should start new verified accounts for trolls. If u are a verified troll u get a red check mark on ur profile. This will create harmony in the troll community as trolls will have something to work towards and non trolls will at least know who a troll is. Thoughts?”, Uday Chopra tweeted in his response.
Other personalities like actress Swara Bhaskar and journalist Barkha Dutt who have always been continuously trolled for their stand, have also extended their support in favour of Ms. Swaraj in addition to the Union Ministers like Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari doing the same.
Online Trolling, the criminal behind the scenes:
Online trolling has poisoned the level of discourse in India. It creates conflict on social media by churning out controversial statements, thus, playing havoc with people, businesses, and the nation as a whole.
A troll usually posts insulting or damaging information which simply goes beyond recounting an experience or expressing any opinion.
The way Swara Bhaskar was trolled for her scenes in VDW can also be deemed an act of shame. Internet trolling is usually seen as a source of entertainment but one must not forget that it is ultimately the victims of relentless trolling who suffer.
As far as Ms. Swaraj is concerned, the trolls do not spare a rod in hurling misogynistic and hate-driven tweets at her and dragging her kidney ailment in between, for which she had recently undergone a surgery.
Online trolling has created an environment which needs to be taken care of! It is a kind of cyberbullying and the offenders need to be punished severely. This problem needs to be checked mutually by the efforts of the concerned authorities and the people alike.
There is no doubt that criticism is a must to keep the government of a country in check, but disseminating communal abuses through it, and using the same out of certain limits, can definitely mar the name of a nation.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Firstpost, The Hindu, Financial Express +more
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