Columnist Shobhaa De's tweet on Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, where she advised her to "tweet less" has left many upset with some suggesting Ms De to follow the same "resolution". Ms Swaraj is known for her quick and helpful responses to SOS posts on Twitter.
The External Affairs Minister has urged Indians abroad to tweet to embassies their problems and also tag her so that she can personally monitor the response "In case of emergency pl mention #SOS," Ms Swaraj had tweeted.
Now, everyone in India who is active on Twitter is well aware of the fact that Swaraj is indeed a Tweeple’s minister who has, time and again, helped people in distress who reached out to her with their problems relating to Visa, passports and travel.
Last year, Ms De's tweet criticising Olympic athletes had landed her into a controversy. Several athletes had objected to her remarks. Olympic gold medal-winning shooter Abhinav Bindra called it "a tad unfair," and tennis player Somdev Devvarman said it was "a little harsh to belittle the hard work put in by our athletes."
The External Affairs Ministry had launched a 'Twitter Seva' to help enable timely, transparent response to Indians citizens' tweets. The service will be supported by 198 Twitter accounts of Indian missions abroad and 29 regional passport offices.
The long list of acts include helping the husband get her wife’s passport so they could spend time together on their honeymoon. She also helped a son come back to India for his father’s last rites. The list of coming to the rescue of people who approached her on Twitter is long and when De came up with the tweet, Twitterati responded savagely.
“haha even Rakhi sawant sounds better then you. She is just incredible Foreign Minister we ever had. Do respect her,” wrote a user. “sometimes i wonder if you really are an idiot or you just tweet dumb stuff to stay in news. This has been bothering me for ages,” wrote another user.
Read her tweet.
Sushma Swaraj : Resolution for 2017 - Keep calm and stop tweeting.
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) January 13, 2017
This is how Twitterati reacted.
.@DeShobhaa : Resolution For 2017 - Tweet Aisa Karo Jo Shobhaa De. ;)https://t.co/Jr0YyXM4Kw
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) January 13, 2017
@DeShobhaa resolution for 2017. No more botox. Too much of the neurotoxin is now affecting your brain.
— Siddharth Marda (@Siddharth_marda) January 13, 2017
Yes! Ms @DeShobhaa you really really, desperately need it. But you don't really need to take @SushmaSwaraj Ji's permission 2 mk a resolution https://t.co/yrCAPAqkxG
— Shefali Vaidya (@ShefVaidya) January 14, 2017
.@DeShobhaa Resolution for 2017 for Shobhaa De - pic.twitter.com/G2jp4HI3fG
— Rosy (@rose_k01) January 13, 2017
@Siddharth_marda @croci_ignis @DeShobhaa Resolutions for 2017 - Shobha didi- Get busy in life, get a job for yourself,
— Avinash Singh (@avi29nash) January 13, 2017
Stop drinking, stay in senses.
Start meditating.
