Amid BJP's silence Rajnath supports Sushma over trolling

The trolling of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is wrong, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday.

Singh is the only minister to have spoken out in support of his colleague, who has been the subject of offensive tweets following a passport row involving an interfaith couple.

"In my opinion, it is wrong," Singh told reporters in New Delhi when asked to comment on the issue.

The external affairs minister conducted a poll on Twitter asking users whether they "approve" of such trolling -- 43 per cent said yes and 57 per cent no.

"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 on Sunday.

The external affairs minister had re-tweeted some of the offensive tweets directed at her following the transfer of Passport Seva Kendra official Vikas Mishra in Lucknow for allegedly humiliating the interfaith couple.

Mishra was transferred from Lucknow to Gorakhpur after the couple alleged that he humiliated them when they went to the office with their passport applications.

According to the couple, Mishra asked the husband to convert to Hinduism and pulled up the wife for marrying a Muslim.

Mishra had said in his defence that he was secular and had told the woman that her 'nikahnama' showed her name as Shazia Anas, which should be endorsed in her file.

A section of social media had attacked Swaraj and the ministry for taking action against Mishra, claiming that he was just doing his duty.

The minister took it on the chin and retweeted some of the tweets that were abusive and communal in nature. 

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also "strongly condemned" the language used in the online trolling of Swaraj and said people should never indulge in any form of verbal abuse.

"Strongly condemn the language used on the social media against @SushmaSwaraj Ji. She is a senior politician. We must respect each other and must never indulge in any form of verbal abuse," Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress supremo, wrote on her Twitter handle.