Farmer protests: Maha govt to probe celebrity tweets; disgusting move, says BJP

NEW DELHI: The Maharashtra government on Monday said it will conduct a probe into allegations that some celebrities were pressurised recently to issue tweets in connection with the ongoing farmers protest.
Several celebrities, including Bharat Ratnas like Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar, took to social media to support the central government with hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda.

This came after US pop star Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg backed the farmers who are protesting near Delhi's border points against the Centre's three new farm laws.
Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh said that the state intelligence department will investigate the matter and noted that the tweets issued by badminton player Saina Nehwal and actor Akshay Kumar were similar.
Deshmukh's remarks came after the Congress, a ruling coalition partner in Maharashtra, sought an investigation into the BJP's alleged connection with the tweets and whether the saffron party "arm-twisted" the celebrities in question.
"The Congress's question is whether they (celebrities) were forced to issue tweets of the same kind simultaneously," the minister said.
"You may have seen what kind of pressure is there on the media, how a politician is threatened with ED or CBI probe if he/she speaks against the BJP. We have all seen this.
"As far as your objection (about celebrities' tweets) is concerned, we will definitely probe into those. Our intelligence agency will probe it," Deshmukh assured the Congress.
Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant and some other party leaders on Monday raised the demand before Deshmukh in a meeting via video conference.
Congress leader Sachin Sawant alleged that there is a "scope" of BJP's involvement in the tweets put out by the celebrities.
"There was series of tweets after MEA's response to Rihanna's tweet. If a person opines on their own, it's fine but there's scope of suspicion that BJP could be behind this" said Sawant.

'Is Maharashtra govt mentally stable?'
Meanwhile, the BJP slammed the Maharashtra government's decision to probe the tweets by celebrities, terming the move "disgusting and highly deplorable".
In a stinging attack, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) should feel ashamed while using the word "probe" for Bharat Ratna awardees.
He also said that it seems necessary to probe the "mental state" of those who demanded the investigation and those who ordered it.

"Has this MVA Govt lost all its senses? MVA should feel ashamed while using the word 'probe' for BharatRatnas! Actually, now it seems necessary to probe the mental state & stability of the ones who made such demand & of people who ordered probe against our BharatRatnas!" the former Maharashtra chief minister tweeted.
(With inputs from PTI)