On the row over abusive tweet made by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said calling names against Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not a joke.

In an exclusive interview to India Today, the law minister said if a person who has been the CM of a big state for 10 years and general secretary (of the Congress) calls it a joke, then "I am sorry it is too much".

He said when a person retweets a message, he does so after applying his mind.

Singh had stoked a major controversy by tweeting an abusive meme against PM Modi, prompting the BJP to demand an apology for the "filthy abuse".

Singh has disowned it, saying retweets are not endorsements.

When asked about PM Modi following people on Twitter who posted abusive messages against murdered journalist Gauri Lankesh, the BJP leader said it cannot be compared with the Digvijaya issue.

He questioned whether the PM liked or retweeted that particular comment on Twitter. "How are you seeking a parity? ...grossly unfair...the PM has never endorsed that," Prasad said.

"Has the Prime Minister ever abused? Has my party president ever abused? Have I ever abused? Has Arun Jaitley ever abused? Has the RSS chief ever abused?."

On Gauri Lankesh's killing in Bengaluru, the minister raised three vital questions.

"Was she making effort to ensure Naxals must surrender before the state? Was she doing it in consent with the state government. If she was doing, we have IB and RAW, may be there was some kind of revulsion, but was she given security?"

He said let there be a fair SIT and the killers be nabbed.

Also read:

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PM Modi, no stranger to online trolling, had once talked about 'real power of social media'

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Venom showered on PM Modi in Gauri Lankesh case unfair: Ravi Shankar Prasad to India Today