After a controversy over what was seen as a pro-Muslim tweet, Stuti Sharma, wife of Madhya Pradesh BJP chief Vishnu Dutt Sharma, deactivated her Twitter account late on Tuesday evening. Earlier, on Sunday she had deleted the controversial tweet within hours of posting it on Saturday night.
Congress targeted the BJP over the lack of freedom of expression for even those who are close to the party while applauding Stuti Mishra’s ‘courageous stand’.
Vishnu Dutt Sharma tried to make light of the issue on Tuesday, saying that his wife was a free individual and the matter wasn’t worth so much discussion. However, later the same evening, Mishra deactivated her account, attracting further jibes from Congress. Stuti Mishra is an assistant professor with Jawaharlal Nehru Agriculture University, Jabalpur.
This elicited an attack from the Congress with spokesman Narendra Saluja tweeting “Until now, only the tweet of Bhabhiji (sister-in-law) went missing, now even her Twitter account is not visible. Everyone has freedom of expression in a free country. Your government rules from Delhi to the state, but if even you cannot express your thoughts, then you can well imagine the situation of others.”
The issue started late on April 16 night when Mishra tweeted to appreciate a Muslim Chemist in her home town Jabalpur. “I needed (sic) a medicine yesterday night all shops were closed only a Muslim medicine shop was open at 11.30 pm. Driver and I went to the shop and bought the medicine and he said ‘didi ye wali medicine se neend aati hai kam drop dijiyega (sister this medicine causes drowsiness use a few drops)’ how caring and he was a Muslim” she tweeted.
The Next day, Mishra was trolled over the tweet throughout the day with many BJP supporters taunting her over her thoughts. These included Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, who responded “chemistism (sic) has religion, but terrorism has no religion”.
This led Mishra to delete her tweet on Monday evening with the comment “Deleted the last tweet as it was creating unnecessary chaos. It's difficult to share thoughts on the topic of religious fight. Was not the aim (sic) to hurt anyone’s opinion (sic). Let Karma do the rest.”
Her decision to delete the tweet led to reactions from Congress. “Even today, there are attempts to divide the country on the basis of caste and religion, but humanity still lives. Bhabhiji (sister-in-law) you spoke your mind, but you had to delete it because of ideology. It would have been better if you would have stuck to the truth, had taken upon such people (trolls), but there would have been a problem elsewhere,” Saluja tweeted.
Another spokesman K.K. Mishra said “Messenger of peace who accepts the truth and speaks against animosity resides under the roof of those giving ideological lessons to spread hate. Bhabhiji, salute to your great courage. The compulsion of deleting the tweet is understandable, but one day VD Sharma bhaisahab (brother) will understand too.”
Later, when questioned by the media on the issue, Sharma said, “She is a free citizen... if she has posted some tweet, we need not make a big issue out of it. These things happen. She also later said that these were not her intentions. We need not discuss much about this. I think in society we all work with the same idea – we are not enemies of each other. I needn’t say much on the issue.” However, Mishra went on to deactivate her account, which she had opened in August 2020, after this. She had earlier tweeted on the unemployment issue on April 1, calling it ‘the biggest hurdle in the progress of any country’ and quoting a poetry by Devi Prasad Mishra.
