Celebs forced to speak against farmers: Congress

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 farmersrsquo agitation Deshmukh told a delegation of Maharashtra Congress leaders on Monday that he would ask the state intelligence department to investigate their allegationsSachin TendulkarDeshmukh 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 COVID19 at his Nagpur home The discussion was streamed live on social mediaFollowing demands by the Congress delegation led by the partyrsquos 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 statementsLata MangeshkarThe delegation also demanded that the Indian celebrities be protected from the BJP which according to Congress leaders was behind the ldquoscripted propagandardquo Later Deshmukh tweeted that he had assured police action as per the rulesCricketing 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 Rihannas tweet last weekSachin Sawant led the Congress delegation that alleged BJPrsquos role in the tweetsldquoIt cannot be denied that the Indian celebrities were put under pressure by the BJP The Centre is trying to demolish the farmersrsquo agitation The international community has expressed its concern over the way the BJP government is applying undemocratic means against the farmers While the government hasnrsquot been reacting to any individual opinion it chose to respond to American pop star Rihannarsquos tweet Thereafter Indian celebrities responded in a similar wayrdquo said SawantldquoAll tweets have common words like lsquoamicablersquo The tweets by actor Akshay Kumar and sports star Saina Nehwal are identical It leads us to say that the entire exercise was scriptedrdquo Sawant said adding that actor Suniel Shetty had tagged Mumbai BJP vicepresident Hitesh JainlsquoDisgusting deplorablersquoOpposition leader Devendra Fadnavis called the home ministerrsquos directives disgusting and deplorable ldquoWhere is your Marathi pride now Where is your Maharashtra dharma We will never find such lsquoratnasrsquo in the entire nation who order probes against Bharat Ratnas Tendulkar and Mangeshkar who always stand strong in one voice for our Nationrdquo he tweetedFadnavis wondered whether the Maha Vikas Aghadi government had lost its mind ldquoThe MVA should feel ashamed while using the word lsquoprobersquo 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 Ratnasrdquo he addedSawant said the BJP was trying to deliberately twist the issue ldquoWe 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 proberdquo he asked