Sushma Swaraj's tweets have already spurred people into action.
Highlights
- Sushma Swaraj reached out to an Indian student from Harvard
- She had blogged about running into trouble in Tanzania
- The tweets have already spurred people into action
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has reached out to an Indian student from Harvard, who blogged about running into trouble in Tanzania. In the blog, published on
The News Minute, Chennai resident Charanya Kannan, wrote about being offered no help at the Indian Embassy in Dar Es Salaam after her bag, which had her passport among other things, was stolen by a robber on a bike. "Just give me the name of this Officer in Indian High Commission in Tanzania," Ms Swaraj tweeted on February 1. The tweet has already spurred people into action.
The incident took place two weeks ago when Ms Kannan traveled to Tanzania for a week-long course on public-private partnerships along with other students. It was in Dar Es Salaam where her bag was stolen. She went to the Indian Embassy hoping things would get resolved there. But things didn't go quite as planned.
In her blog, Ms Kannan wrote about her meeting with the consular officer at the Indian Embassy. He had apparently told her it would take three weeks to issue her a new passport or she could travel back to India and reapply for a passport from there. This process would take two-three months.
When Ms Kannan explained that she couldn't do either because she had to complete her course at Harvard and return to the US to her two-year-old son.
"Nothing can be done. Even if you give me two crore rupees, nothing can be done," Ms Kannan quoted the consular officer in her blog. She even suggested tweeting to India's Foreign Minister. "You tweet to anyone. Let's see what they can do. What will they do? They will tell us to do and again we only do it. You tweet to anyone, let's see what you can do," the consular officer told her.
Ms Kannan was eventually helped by the Deputy High Commissioner of the Indian High Commission in Tanzania after her friends reached out to him.
Ms Swaraj, who read Ms Kannan's blog, tweeted her about the incident.
Ms Kannan thanked Ms Swaraj for noticing the issue and springing into action.
Here's how the Indian Embassy in Tanzania responded:
We'll have to wait and watch to see what action Ms Swaraj takes against the officer.