India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri was subjected to abuse on social media after announcing a ceasefire on his government’s behalf with neighbour Pakistan.

Indian daily, The Hindu, reported that Misri’s family was abused by right-wing trolls in India, who were cross with the ceasefire with Pakistan.

India’s foreign secretary had to lock down his account and keep the comments disabled as he faced a volley of unparliamentary comments.

The Wire reported that right-wing X accounts called him a “traitor”, dug out old posts that he had shared of his family, and targeted his daughter for studying abroad and providing legal aid to Muslim Rohingya refugees.

An eye-opener

The Indian opposition party, Congress, in a statement criticising the right-wing trolls whom it said were associated with the ruling BJP, said:

“Last week, Modi bhakts (followers) launched a vicious character assassination campaign against Ms Himanshi Narwal, the widow of a soldier and officer, simply because she appealed for ‘no hate, no violence’. Now, they’re targeting Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, as though he unilaterally decided on the ceasefire, not Modi, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh or Jaishankar.”

Another opposition leader said :

“The abuse towards Vikram Misri & his daughter is an eye-opener. Calling this hate ‘nationalism’ is the biggest lie of our time. The right-wing hate engine is India’s real threat & this rot must end before it ends us,” he said.

Pakistan and India reached a ceasefire after four days of tit-for-tat attacks, resulting in the deaths of over 50 people in the two countries.

Pakistan claimed to have dealt several military blows to India, including downing multiple jets. A claim supported by many international media outlets.

India, on its part, shut at least 8,000 accounts on X, which were critical of India’s claims.

Meanwhile, a major misinformation campaign by some of India's mainstream news channels sparked a backlash from social media users.