SUSHMA ‘REUNITES’ COUPLE SEPARATED BEFORE VACATION
NEW DELHI: Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday stepped in to ensure a woman who lost her passport could get a new one in order to join her husband for their honeymoon in Italy. On Monday, Delhi-based blogger Faizan Patel tweeted a photo of himself, sitting in a train and holding a photo of his wife over an empty seat. Tagging Swaraj in the tweet, Patel said: “This is how I am travelling with my wife.”
NEW DELHI: Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj was on Tuesday being praised as a cupid of sorts after she stepped in to ensure a woman who lost her passport could get a new one in order to join her husband for their honeymoon in Italy.
It all started on Monday when Delhi-based blogger and baker Faizan Patel tweeted a photo of himself on his “honeymoon”, sitting in a train and holding a photo of his wife Sana over an empty seat. Patel, who tagged Swaraj in the tweet, said: “This is how I am travelling with my wife as of now.” In earlier tweets, he said he had to leave for the honeymoon without his wife on Sunday as she had “misplaced” her passport.
Swaraj, who was reportedly in parliament, replied to Patel about four hours later on Monday.
In a series of developments that appeared to be straight out of a Bollywood movie, Swaraj later said in another tweet her office had reached Patel and that his wife would get a duplicate passport by Tuesday.
But the story soon took another twist when several Twitter users dug out old tweets by Patel that contained derogatory references to Swaraj and were critical of other BJP leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and LK Advani. Others criticised Patel for reaching out to Swaraj over what they thought was a trivial issue, saying only people in distress should take up passport-related matters with the minister.
Swaraj, who has 5.5 million followers on Twitter, is known for her prompt responses to people who approach her with problems, especially expatriates in the Middle East.