Twitter condolences are the easiest. You don’t even have to know the personality who died. You just list the name of the person who died, mention that they changed your world and then add the essential #RIP. Simple, right?
Turns out, no.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is usually on top on her Twitter game but on Thursday had egg on her face after trying to condole the demise of Bengali legend Mahasweta Devi. The external Affairs Minister tweeted that two works by the author had a lasting impact on her life.
The only problem? Devi never wrote those books. Ashapurna Devi did.
Not surprisingly, the offending tweet has now done a disappearing act from the minister’s timeline. But Twitterati never forget:
Ma`am @SushmaSwaraj with respect, the books you quoted are by Ashapurna Devi not #MahaswetaDevi, tho both are beloved writers of Bengal
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) July 29, 2016
Moral of the story: Check before you tweet! https://t.co/hHKCYqgd1i
— Parul Chandra (@ParulChandraP) July 29, 2016
.@SushmaSwaraj ji these books written by Ashapura Devi nt Mahasweta Devi.Kindly check info supplied 2 u @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/375fX8xkdi
— Joydip Chaudhuri (@joydip18) July 29, 2016
Dear Sushma Swaraj, you tweeted some phrases in Mahasweta Devi’s memory that were not only banal but inaccurate…. https://t.co/X632YtLKOx
— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) July 28, 2016
