New Delhi, Aug 18: Congress president Rahul Gandhi is often subjected to harsh criticism and ridicule on the social media. On the sad demise of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the trolls were quick to target Rahul Gandhi on his purported statement condoling the BJP patriarch's death. On a closer scrutiny, it was found that the criticism was unfair.

A news channel mistranslated Rahul Gandhi's tweet on Vajpayee's death as follows: "Log unka kaafi samman karte the. Unke pariwar aur chahne walo ko shradhanjali."

The translation of his tweet was flawed as it meant: "People had enormous respect for him. I pay homage to his family and admirers." The second sentence of the translation indicated that Rahul Gandhi had paid homage to Vajpayee's family and admirers rather than the deceased leader. The interpretation was grossly incorrect as his actual statement read as follows:

Twitter went berserk without cross-verifying the statements of Rahul Gandhi. Here's how the trolls reacted:

Rahul Gandhi, along with other senior leaders of the Congress, paid homage to Vajpayee, who passed away at the AIIMS on Thursday. The top rung leadership of the Congress attended the funeral procession held at Smriti Sthal on Friday.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 18, 2018 09:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).