**Bhubaneswar:** Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today took to Twitter condemning the trolls targeting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in connection with the passport row involving an interfaith couple from Lucknow.
“Strongly denounce the vitriolic & intolerant responses to @SushmaSwaraj ji. She has been a leader in using social media to help common citizens of the country. Such conduct must be strongly condemned,” read a tweet by the CM.
Swaraj has been the subject of offensive tweets after she transferred an official of Passport Seva Kendra in Lucknow for allegedly humiliating the interfaith couple, Tanvi Seth and Mohammad Anas Siddiqui, when they had visited the office with their passport applications.
The couple had alleged that Mishra had asked Siddiqui to convert to Hinduism and pulled up Seth for marrying a Muslim. However, Mishra in his defence had said he just told Seth that her ‘nikahnama’ showed her name as Shazia Anas, which should be endorsed in her file.
Swaraj and the Ministry were targeted by some twitteratis for taking action on Mishra, claiming that he was just doing his duty. In reaction to it, Swaraj retweeted some of the tweets, some of which were abusive and communal in nature, and also conducted a poll on Twitter asking all if they approve of such tweets.
