The veteran diplomat, who has largely been the face of India’s response to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack and the subsequent military escalation, was forced to protect his social media accounts from public view after a barrage of abuse and the doxxing of his daughter’s personal details.
Published May 11, 2025 | 4:06 PM ⚊ Updated May 11, 2025 | 4:29 PM
Vikram Misri, Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs.
Synopsis: Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri – the public face of India’s response to the Pahalgam terror attack – has faced a torrent of online abuse from right-wing trolls after India and Pakistan announced an “understanding for stoppage of firing and military action”. The veteran diplomat was forced to lock down his social media accounts following doxxing and vile targeting of his family, fuelled by misplaced outrage from users upset at the Modi government for de-escalation.
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has come under intense online attack from right-wing trolls following his public role in announcing the “understanding for stoppage of firing and military action” between India and Pakistan on 10 May.
The veteran diplomat, who has largely been the face of India’s response to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack and the subsequent military escalation, was forced to protect his social media accounts from public view after a barrage of abuse and the doxxing of his daughter’s personal details.
The online campaign against Misri appears to be driven by anger among right-wing trolls over what many see as a missed opportunity by the Narendra Modi-led Union government to escalate hostilities further with Pakistan.
As the public face of the government’s foreign policy, Misri has now become an easy scapegoat for venting this discontent, albeit in vile and abusive language.
Mohammed Zubair, fact-checker and Co-founder of Alt News, noted:
“Foreign Secretary of India, Vikram Misri has now protected his account. Reason: right-wing trolls were digging out his old tweets with his family and abusing them.”
Foreign Secretary of India, Vikram Misri has now protected his account.
Reason: Right wing trolls were digging out his old tweets with his family and abusing them. pic.twitter.com/K3jbHzlNkd— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 11, 2025
Journalist-activist Sucheta Dalal condemned the silence of senior bureaucratic institutions:
“Hopefully the steel frame and the elite IAS Association and IFS Association will wake up. They have remained silent while the rest of us have borne the brunt of wild slander, abuse and defamation without any feasible recourse… They do not even speak up about oppressive actions!”
Trump ordered CeaseFire,
Surrender Modi ji agreed,
But whose facing the Wrath of Terrorists living within India ❓Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri who has been serving this Nation is Abused 👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/o4izGoMdT5
— Dr.Krishank (@Krishank_BRS) May 11, 2025
Similarly, Journalist Swati Chaturvedi wrote:
“Action must be taken against the trolls who have doxxed and abused Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s daughter. This sort of abuse has now crossed all limits.”
Several social media users criticised the widespread misunderstanding of a diplomat’s role. One post read:
“They are out here frothing at the mouth over diplomats, completely clueless to the basic, elementary-school-level fact that diplomats do not just freelance international policy… The ignorance would be hilarious if it were not so dangerous.”
Veteran journalist Vir Sanghvi similarly wrote:
“The people who are trolling Vikram Misri, an outstanding Foreign Secretary who has done such a terrific job during this conflict, are human garbage.
“Decent people like Misri work for our country. These hateful, cowardly scum do their best to bring us down.”
A user commented on the toxic nature of the discourse:
“We fail as a nation not because of ceasefires but when our only response is to abuse women. Look at the absolute garbage (in the comments) we are throwing at Mr Misri and his family. Disgusting.”
Journalist Sakshi Joshi pointed to the irony of the rapid shift in public sentiment:
“Look at the filth our Foreign Secretary and his family had to face from trolls, war mongers, andhbhakts and IT cell.
“Someone who was celebrated as a Kashmiri Hindu till a few days ago is made the scapegoat today and is targeted like this. This kind of trolling is one of the biggest falls in New India’s history.”
Meanwhile, Asaduddin Owaisi, President of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Member of Parliament (MP) from Hyderabad, was the sole politician at the time of reporting to come to Misri’s defence.
“Mr Vikram Misri is a decent and honest hard-working diplomat working tirelessly for our nation,” he wrote.
“Our civil servants work under the Executive – this must be remembered – and they should not be blamed for the decisions taken by the Executive or any political leadership running Watan-e-Aziz.”
Mr Vikram Misri is a decent and an Honest Hard working Diplomat working tirelessly for our Nation.
Our Civil Servants work under the Executive this must be remembered & they shouldn’t be blamed for the decisions taken by The Executive /or any Political leadership running Watan E… https://t.co/yfM3ygfiyt— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) May 11, 2025
The abuse directed at Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri shows a disturbing trend: anyone advocating peace or rejecting communal narratives is vilified.
In the immediate aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, where 26 people were killed, several grieving family members of the victims have become unexpected targets of online abuse for refusing to communalise the attack.
Kin of victims emphasised that the attackers were terrorists without religion, and praised ordinary Kashmiris who stood by them during the tragedy.
Their stance invited a storm of vitriol from right-wing trolls, who accused them of being “anti-national,” with some questioning their morality and even suggesting they sympathised with terrorists.
Himanshi Narwal, the widow of the IAF officer killed in the attack, in particular, faced character assassination based on her past views.
Thus far, little to no action has been taken by the authorities.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
