India stands united: Amit Shah rejects propaganda as global celebrities back farmers' protest
Shah joined union ministers, including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, India cricket captain Virat Kohli and Bollywood celebrities tweeting in apparent unison against "propaganda" that threatens national unity.
FollowAs the ongoing farmers protest grabbed international spotlight with pop star Rihanna's tweet, Union Home Minister Amit Shah became the senior-most member of the government to warn of the "temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments".
Rihanna, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, American actress Amanda Cerni, US Vice President Kamala Harris' niece Meena Harris and several other prominent people took to Twitter to lend their voices to the months-long farmers' protests against three newly enacted agri laws.
Shah joined union ministers, including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, India cricket captain Virat Kohli and Bollywood celebrities tweeting in apparent unison against "propaganda" that threatens national unity.
Taking to Twitter, Shah said, "Propaganda can not decide India’s fate only ‘Progress’ can. India stands united and together to achieve progress. #IndiaAgainstPropaganda #IndiaTogether".
The MEA has slammed the remarks made by Rihanna and other celebrities and activists on farmer protests, saying the facts on the issue must be ascertained before rushing to comment on it.
Late Tuesday night Rihanna tweeted to her 100 million followers: "Why aren't we talking about this #FarmersProtest?" and shared an article on the farmers' protest by American news outlet CNN.
Her tweet was quickly followed by a flood of such messages, including one from teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and Lebanese-American former adult film star Mia Khalifa. Both Rihanna and Ms Khalifa were labelled "anti-national" by the BJP's Sambit Patra.
Delhi has seen tens of thousands of farmers across India talking to streets to express their concern over laws that they say will endanger their livelihoods.
The Centre insists that the laws will be beneficial for the farmers and has refused to repeal them.
The Centre said that in order to end the deadlock, it has held 11 rounds of talks with the farmers union representatives and also agreed to hold the implementation of the laws for 1 to 1.5 years but it was turned down.
