Leaders of Maharashtra Congress had sought an investigation into whether the celebrities were under BJP pressure to make similar tweets.
Tweets by celebrities in response to the global criticism of the government’s handling of the farmers’ protest will be investigated by Maharashtra. The state’s home minister Anil Deshmukh said: “It has been revealed that there were same posts by celebrities and at the same time. Hence it will be investigated why it has happened.” The move comes after requests from the state Congress leaders to look into the matter.
After responses on social media by several celebrities in support of the Central government, leaders of Maharashtra Congress had sought an investigation into whether the celebrities were under BJP pressure to do so. The leaders today had a virtual meeting with home minister Anil Deshmukh, who has tested Covid positive and is currently in isolation.
A similar pattern can be seen between the tweets made by these celebrities, Congress leader Sachin Sawant had alleged. Most used the word “amicable”.
“Akshay Kumar and Saina Nehwal tweeted the exact same thing and actor Suniel Shetty tagged a BJP leader. While everyone has a right to express themselves, we want the government to probe whether these people were pressurized by the government to tweet this,” Sachin Sawant said.
Several Bollywood celebrities, cricketers and politicians had tweeted with the hashtags #IndiaAgainstPropaganda and #IndiaTogether, both used in an official government statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The development came as a massive pushback after pop star Rihanna and other global celebrities tweeted in support of the farmers’ protests.
People must focus on the government’s efforts to resolve the farmer crisis instead of “half truths”, the celebrities had stressed.
The response was led by actors Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Ajay Devgn, filmmaker Karan Johar, Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, Vice-Captain Ajinkya Rahane, opener Rohit Sharma and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
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