Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri was subjected to name-calling, while his daughter faced misogynistic comments. His photos, with his daughter, were circulated on social media, and his contact information was leaked online – all because he conveyed that India and Pakistan have agreed to a ceasefire following Operation Sindoor, which was launched to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack. Misri then locked his social media account to make his posts on Twitter (now X) private. Soon after, political leaders, along with IAS and IPS bodies, stood firmly by his side and condemned the “unwarranted personal attacks” by “faceless, nameless” people. Now, Kiran Bedi has penned a powerful and thought-provoking post about him.

“India’s Foreign Secretary. Know him – Vikram Misri,” wrote Bedi on X. 

‘Vikram Misri rose from ashes to authority’: Kiran Bedi

The 75-year-old then described Misri’s life, stating he rose from “ashes to authority” not through “protests or revenge”, but with “books, belief and backbone”. 

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“From ashes to authority: Vikram Misri and the rise of a silenced people. There are stories that history forgets, not because they lack pain – but because they are too quiet, too dignified to scream,” she said, before adding, “The story of the Kashmiri Pandits is one such tale – of a community ripped from their roots, their temples desecrated, their homes abandoned in the dead of night, carrying nothing but faith and a fading photograph of what once was. A community exiled in their own country, silenced by fear, and forgotten by time. And yet – they rose. Not with protests. Not with revenge. But with books, belief, and backbone. In the face of unimaginable pain, they clung to knowledge. To discipline. To resilience.”

‘Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits was painful, but it didn’t define him’

She said that although Misri’s family, like thousands of others, was “uprooted” during the painful exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, which was birthed out of a “political poison fed across the border by Pakistan”, it didn’t define him.

“…his early life echoed with the sounds of temple bells and the scent of chinars. But that peace was shattered by a storm of militancy that swept through the valley in the late 1980s and 90s – a storm not born of the people, but of political poison fed across the border by Pakistan,” she added. 

The former Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry went on to say, “Like thousands of others, the Misri family was uprooted – not because they broke the law, but because they simply existed. Because they prayed differently. Because they were marked.”

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Bedi then said that instead of allowing the trauma to breed bitterness, Misri found purpose. In 1989 – the very year many Kashmiri Pandits were forced to flee – he joined the Indian Foreign Service.

“While others carried guns, he picked up treaties. While others chanted slogans, he studied silence,” she expressed. 

‘Misri never used his influence for personal vendetta’

Bedi, in her long post, said that Misri has shared rooms with some of the most powerful people India has ever produced, yet he never used this influence for “vendetta”. 

“He has advised three Indian Prime Ministers – Gujral, Manmohan Singh, and Narendra Modi…He is more than a diplomat – he is a quiet symbol of an entire people who refused to be erased,” she added. 

Towards the end, Bedi said that India’s Foreign Secretary does not “accuse communities”, she said, but “condemns ideologies of hate”. “In Misri, the world sees what the Kashmiri Pandits have always been – builders, thinkers, survivors. They may have been scattered, but they are not shattered. They may have been silenced, but they are not forgotten.”

She concluded her long post with the words: “Through every speech he makes, every negotiation he leads, and every stand he takes for India’s sovereignty, Vikram Misri carries the spirit of his ancestors – and the pain of a community that once lost everything, except their will to rise.”

“Silence is indeed golden,” wrote one social media user in the comments section. 

Another said, “Absolutely! Vikram Misri’s dedication is inspiring. It’s incredible to see such brilliance uplift the nation. Here’s to more remarkable stories like his!”

“That was really wonderful,” a third praised Bedi for the write-up on Misri.