India's "sidelined" FM Sushma Swaraj at loggerheads with pro-Modi twitterati, blocks a few in "kneejerk" reaction

By A Representative
Is India's "sidelined" foreign minister Sushma Swaraj at loggerheads with right-wing pro-Narendra Modi trolls, who make no stone unturned in attacking anyone criticizing the Prime Minister on the popular micro blogging site Twitter? It would seem so, if what is being termed as her recent "kneejerk responses" to some of the pro-Modi twitterati is any indication.

Pointing out that she has gone so far as to block some of these trolls, the well-known site altnews.com, known to be keeping a close watch on Twitter trends, says, this has happened ever since "India tightened its visa policy for Pakistani nationals... Many Pakistanis have approached Swaraj on Twitter for help with acquiring medical visa on humanitarian grounds."
"The fact that she has been equanimous and considerate in her approach has earned her the ire of many right-wing twitterati, terming her 'Medical Mata' and 'Visa Mata'. The recent treatment of Kulbhushan Jadav’s family by Pakistan further aggravated matters", an article by Sam Jawed, objecting to the minister's behaviour, says, even as quoting several instances.
Jawed says, "Her assistance to Pakistani citizens ... earned her the ire of her right wing supporters and made her a target of incessant trolling with tweets like, 'Those who promised to bring us ten heads in retaliation for one are distributing visas to our enemy state', 'You criticise or trash Medical Mata @SushmaSwaraj, you will be instantly blocked by her... even though she's a public offficer…'”

The "attackers" on Twitter have called Swaraj's "daily routine of tweeting medical visas" as becoming "embarrassing now", even as insisting that "her responses are usually in cases with good PR potential" having "no accountability", and there is "no good reason for her to be behaving like a consular officer."
One of those who has been blocked by Swaraj (Prasun Maitra@prasunmaitra) has tweeted, "I am proud to be blocked by a minister who seeks votes from secessionists in exchange of compromised foreign policy. She is a stigma on @narendramodi government". He even provides a screenshot of the blocking message from Twitter. And Namrata@_Namrataa tweets, "Achievement unlocked: Sushma ji blocked me thanks to people tagging her in replies perhaps".
A pro-Modi Twitter enthusiast, @namo_satya, complains, "Respected @PMOIndia @narendramodi ji, Ma'am Sushma Swaraj ji blocked me for no reason. If I require any help then to whom shall I contact? She is free to issue medical visa to Pakistanis but why to block Indian citizens?", adding, "This approach is not appreciable from External Affairs Minister of India."
Twitterati have variously said, "No processes, just minister's whims... They should open a medical visa department instead", "Is there any other external affairs minister in world who issues visas at Twitter? Modiji needs to give some real work to Sushma Swaraj", and "After three years in office, why isn’t she able to set up a system that works without the need of her intervention in every case? She appears to be more accessible to Pakistanis than their own government..."
Notes Jawed, "Swaraj runs a very popular Twitter handle with close to 11 million followers. Many people reach out to her via twitter. Lost a passport in a foreign country? Need to travel on an emergency? Need consular access on a holiday? Whatever the issue for Indian citizens abroad, Swaraj was always a click away, resolving problems with a warm, personal touch."
He adds, "Though her personal intervention in individual cases won her much acclaim, she also invited criticism from those who argued that her talent was severely underutilized in the ministry... Ironically many of those who are mocking Swaraj and have been blocked by her are staunch supporters of her own party, some even followed by Modi on Twitter."

Comments

Uma said…

This is the problem with our country today: do something good and be pulled down for it. Swaraj is the only minister who is really doing some work which puts the country in a good light: helping Pakistanis get medical treatment in our country--what better PR exercise can there be? Besides this, she has helped several Indians with consular problems or those who have been detained in foreign lands for various reasons.

I wish all those motormouths would keep quiet and learn something from her.

December 28, 2017

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

Search This Blog