Celebs forced to speak against farmers: Congress

HM Anil Deshmukh said he would ask the state intel dept to look into allegations

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has said a police probe will ascertain whether eminent Indian personalities were influenced into tweeting in response to international celebrities who had supported the ongoing farmers' agitation. Deshmukh told a delegation of Maharashtra Congress leaders on Monday that he would ask the state intelligence department to investigate their allegations.

Sachin Tendulkar

Deshmukh told a delegation of Maharashtra Congress leaders on Monday that he would ask the state intelligence department to investigate their allegations. He spoke to Congress leaders online because he is recuperating from COVID-19 at his Nagpur home. The discussion was streamed live on social media.

Following demands by the Congress delegation led by the party's general secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant, Deshmukh said it was pertinent to connect the dots and find out whether the celebrities were pressured into tweeting almost identical statements.

Lata Mangeshkar

The delegation also demanded that the Indian celebrities be protected from the BJP, which, according to Congress leaders, was behind the "scripted propaganda". Later, Deshmukh tweeted that he had assured police action as per the rules.

Cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, actors Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty and badminton champion Saina Nehwal were among the big names who had responded to pop star Rihanna's tweet last week.

Sachin Sawant led the Congress delegation that alleged BJP's role in the tweets

"It cannot be denied that the Indian celebrities were put under pressure by the BJP. The Centre is trying to demolish the farmers' agitation. The international community has expressed its concern over the way the BJP government is applying undemocratic means against the farmers. While the government hasn't been reacting to any individual opinion, it chose to respond to American pop star Rihanna's tweet. Thereafter, Indian celebrities responded in a similar way," said Sawant.

"All tweets have common words like ‘amicable'. The tweets by actor Akshay Kumar and sports star Saina Nehwal are identical. It leads us to say that the entire exercise was scripted," Sawant said, adding that actor Suniel Shetty had tagged Mumbai BJP vice-president Hitesh Jain.

‘Disgusting, deplorable'
Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis called the home minister's directives disgusting and deplorable. "Where is your Marathi pride now? Where is your Maharashtra dharma? We will never find such ‘ratnas' in the entire nation who order probes against Bharat Ratnas (Tendulkar and Mangeshkar) who always stand strong in one voice for our Nation," he tweeted.

Fadnavis wondered whether the Maha Vikas Aghadi government had lost its mind. "The MVA should feel ashamed while using the word ‘probe' for Bharat Ratnas. Actually, now it seems necessary to probe the mental state of the ones who made such a demand and of people who ordered probes against our Bharat Ratnas," he added.

Sawant said the BJP was trying to deliberately twist the issue. "We have demanded the probe of the BJP, not celebrities. Why is the BJP mum over identical tweets posted by Akshay Kumar and Saina Nehwal? Why does Suniel Shetty tag his tweet to a BJP office bearer? Is the BJP scared of the probe?" he asked.