Environment Ministry Twitter Handle Tries To Troll Congress Ends Up Trolling Itself

Twitter users pulled up India's Environment Ministry on Thursday for a reply to a tweet from its official verified account that took a dig at the Congress.

The account is the official twitter handle of Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India. Many saw the tweet from @moefcc in bad taste and out of character for a government account. What's worse, the tweet was not original and seemed to have been copied from author and journalist Minhaz Merchant's tweet.

The tweet was in response to post by Twitter handle @aAccheDin, who criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an attack on a school bus in Gurugram on Wednesday by a mob that were protesting the release of the film 'Padmavat'.

Not a single tweet from Cong president condemning #KarniSenaViolence, instead just a cheesy tweet like this one

— MoEF&CC (@moefcc) January 25, 2018

A video showing school teachers comforting frightened school children as the windows of their bus were shattered by rioters, stunned and angered the nation on Wednesday.

Many took to social media to vent their anger against the silence by Indian politicians in condemning violent protests by the Karni Sena.

Looking to stem the outrage, Congress President Rahul Gandhi eventually tweeted post 10 pm on Wednesday condemning the violence but did not mention 'Karni Sena' in his tweet.

There will never be a cause big enough to justify violence against children. Violence and hatred are the weapons of the weak. The BJP's use of hatred and violence is setting our entire country on fire.

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 24, 2018

The tweet from the environment ministry only made things worse.

An official government handle showcasing its lack of class and sophistication under bhaiya party rule

— Maverick (@ManmohitSingh3) January 25, 2018

Amit malviya is that you. got confused about logged in profile?

— ivansikorsky (@ivan_sikorsky) January 25, 2018

One of the replies to the tweet mentioned that it was copied verbatim (including the hashtag) from author and journalist Minhaz Merchant.

Just putting it here for people to see who tweets from where.. pic.twitter.com/HeYxa2WDDU

— Venkatesh (@Swag_Se_Swag) January 25, 2018

Not a single tweet from Cong president condemning #KarniSenaViolence, instead just a cheesy tweet like this one https://t.co/Akcme21OkO

— Minhaz Merchant (@MinhazMerchant) January 24, 2018

An archived version of the environment ministry's tweet can be viewed here.