Tweets by notable Indian figures including Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virat Kohli posted under the hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda have come under the lens of the Maharashtra Govt, which aims to probe whether they were posted under pressure by the BJP in order to take social media in support of the Centre.
Various Indian celebrities had tweeted on the need of the nation to stay united amidst the farmers’ protest, in response to comments made by international celebs including Rihanna, Amanda Cerny, Greta Thunberg, and Mia Khalifa supporting the protest and questioning the Indian Govt citing human rights violations.
While the tweets were seen by many as a way to appeal to Indians to not allow external spectators compromise the nation’s sovereignty; they soon started to face flak on social media as users pointed out similarities in them, especially with use of the word “amicable”.
Now, the Uddhav Thackeray led Maharshtra Govt has decided to investigate whether the celebrities tweeted under pressure by the Centre.
“It has been revealed that there were same posts by celebrities at the same time”, said Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Desmukh.
The State Police could also call the celebrities in order to gain more information about the intent and backing of the tweets.
This comes after similar allegations by the Maharshtra Congress, for which State Congress’s General Secretary Sachin Sawant met Deshmukh demanding a probe into the ‘advocacy by national heroes on social media’.
“There is a similar pattern behind these tweets by the celebrities which shows that there was a communication between the celebrities and the ruling party leaders.”, he said.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra BJP’s head former CM Devendra Fadnavis has slammed these claims, calling them an insult to their ‘expression and ability to think independently’. “Do you expect them to say international celebrities can poke their nose in the internal matters of India?”, he questioned.
