India minister Sushma Swaraj's fridge tweet goes viral Published duration 14 June 2016

image copyright @SushmaSwaraj

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has had to gently tell a Twitter user that she is not the best person to approach for issues with appliances.

Her tweet to a disgruntled owner of a Samsung fridge has gone viral in India and generated a spate of responses.

"Brother I cannot help you in matters of a Refrigerator. I am very busy with human beings in distress," Ms Swaraj tweeted to user @M_VenkatM.

The minister often responds to users who reach out to her for help.

As the tweet gathered traction among people, many congratulated the minister for her response:

image copyright @neelrao

image copyright @smygfilma

Others suggested their own innovative solutions to the problem - the user below offered the services of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who once protested against high electricity prices by reconnecting power lines of those who had been unable to pay their bills:

image copyright @clicktator7

But a few more users jumped at the opportunity to ask the minister for help with other "pressing issues":

image copyright @bilaji8

image copyright @2asifseraj

And as the debate raged on about why a foreign minister would be the best person to approach for refrigerator problems, a few users offered these insights:

image copyright @MalikAshok

image copyright @zindaplanet

Sushma Swaraj has a reputation for responding to Indians overseas who are in need of diplomatic assistance.

However, there has been at least one post accusing the minister of ignoring requests for help and trying to build social media popularity instead.

The minister has not tweeted again, despite the storm created by her initial response.