The probe will examine if the celebrities were pressurised by the BJP to post tweets in their favour in farmer agitations.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has ordered a probe into Twitter posts made by celebrities like Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar and Akshay Kumar.
The probe will examine if the celebrities were pressurised by the BJP to post tweets in their favour in farmer agitations.
The demand for the probe was made by Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant who believed that the celebrities were under pressure to tweet in the Centre's favour.
The Congress doubts stem from one word 'amicable' that it believes appears in all tweets.
India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants.
Indians know India and should decide for India. Let's remain united as a nation.
Farmers constitute an extremely important part of our country. And the efforts being undertaken to resolve their issues are evident. Let’s support an amicable resolution, rather than paying attention to anyone creating differences. 🙏🏻 https://t.co/LgAn6tIwWp
— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar)
Let us all stay united in this hour of disagreements. Farmers are an integral part of our country and I'm sure an amicable solution will be found between all parties to bring about peace and move forward together.
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli)
The state government's probe call comes at a time when another investigation is underway on a 'toolkit' for protests that was shared by climate change activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter. The 'toolkit' provides celebrities and other pre-fabricated templates to tweet against the Indian government and its handling of the farmers' agitation.
The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi set social media on fire with many slamming the Uddhav Thackeray-led government for targeting celebrities who took a pro-India stand against vested interests trying to defame the country.
😳 Government will investigate and for their tweets on https://t.co/AjgYQhQc1V pic.twitter.com/mQxVrClGjv
— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta)
Shocking! This is attacking our true National Icons! How absurd can anyone get! Is this, Maha govt committeemen to FOE? https://t.co/IV74FaUmfm
— Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai)
Hailing Rihanna for tweeting about farm laws. But Sachin and other Indian celebrities asking Indians to stay United is a matter of concern for Congress and Maharashtra Government. Great going!!
— Sumi ~ (@sumi_r07)