It only took one tweet from Rihanna to anger the government of India and the supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party. The pop star shared a link to an article about the massive peasant protests that have paralyzed the country for over two months.
Senior government officials, Indian celebrities and even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are calling on the population to join in and denounce foreigners trying to break the country.
“It is regrettable to see vested interest groups trying to enforce and derail their agendas on these protests,” India’s Foreign Ministry said in a rare statement on Wednesday, not citing Rihanna and others following suit. .
Tens of thousands of farmers have camped on the outskirts of the Indian capital of New Delhi to protest new legislation that they say will become poorer and handed over to businesses. The mobilizations pose a major challenge to Modi, who described the laws as necessary to modernize the agricultural sector.
The protests were mostly peaceful, but violence erupted on January 26, Republic Day, when tens of thousands of farmers, aboard their tractors and on foot, stormed the 17th-century Red Fort in a brief but shocking look. Hundreds of officers were injured and one of the protesters died. Dozens of protesters were also injured, but authorities did not provide specific information.
The latest controversy started Tuesday, when Rihanna tweeted her more than 101 million followers on Twitter, “Why aren’t we talking about this ?!” And he shared a link to a news report on CNN television about the blocking of Internet services on the protest sites, a tactic used by Modi’s government to stop the mobilizations.
This was followed by international condemnation by human rights groups and outrage from supporters of Modi’s party.
The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which did not name the singer and designer, accused ‘foreign individuals’ and celebrities of ‘sensationalism’.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg and Meena Harris, the niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, also tweeted their support, and soon a storm broke out on social media.
Bollywood actors and athletes, many of whom had remained silent about the protests and are known to follow the line of government, jointly responded to the hashtags #IndiaContraLaPropaganda and #IndiaUnida, echoing the official stance on the matter.
Rihanna and Thunberg’s tweets also had the reaction of nearly all of the leaders of the Modi formation, including the Secretary of State Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and the Secretary of the Interior Amit Shah, who pointed out that “no propaganda whatsoever will destroy the unity. of India “.