Several current and former Indian players tweeted that outsiders shouldn’t be commenting on India's internal matter.
The issue really blew up after pop singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg shared an article about the farmer protest on Twitter. While Rihanna captioned "Are we talking about this?", Thunberg stated she was in solidarity with the farmers.
In response to the outrage, many Indian cricketers such as the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Anil Kumble, Suresh Raina among others, tweeted that outsiders shouldn’t be commenting on the internal matters of India.
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Just when the people were moving away from this matter, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government sparked it by ordering a probe to know if celebrities like Tendulkar, Kohli, singer Lata Mangeshkar and others tweeted under pressure by the Centre in support of farm laws.
On Monday (February 8), Maharashtra Pradesh Committee Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant held a virtual meeting with Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, demanding an investigation into the tweets posted by Indian celebrities.
"Demanded investigation of BJP connection into the tweets of celebrities & security to be provided to our national heroes if needed & find out whether these celebrities were arm-twisted by BJP. @AnilDeshmukhNCP Ji ordered investigation by Intelligence unit," Sachin Sawant wrote in a tweet.
Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has given surety to Congress' Sachin Sawant that the state Intelligence Department will conduct a fair investigation.
"There is a similar pattern in these tweets by celebrities, including Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and sportspersons Sachin Tendulkar and Saina Nehwal. This shows that there was some communication between the celebrities and the ruling party leaders. There needs to be an investigation to check if these national heroes were pressurised by the BJP for such advocacy on social media. If so, these celebrities need to be given more protection," Sawant said.