Farmers Movement Archive

Farm laws: Cong MP slams govt over push back against tweets by foreign celebs

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury questioned if the country was so weak as to feel threatened by an 18-year-old girl and treat her as an enemy for tweeting in support of protests against farm laws. He was speaking in the Lok Sabha or Lower House of Parliament.Chowdhury was speaking about climate activist Greta Thunberg who had recently tweeted her support for the protesting farmers at the Delhi borders. He also said that celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar were being misled."Celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar being misled. Is our country so weak that an 18-year-old-girl is being considered an enemy for speaking in favour of the protesting farmers?" he said.International pop icon Rihanna sought to draw attention towards the farmers' stir by posting a news article along with her tweet with a caption, "Why aren't we talking about this?!"Several global personalities - including Thunberg and Meena Harris, the niece of US vice-president Kamala Harris - also reacted to it showing their support to the protesters.The Indian government was swift in their push back, with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) calling the criticism of India's farm laws by foreign personalities "unfortunate"."Before rushing to comment on such matters, we urge that facts be ascertained and proper understanding of issues at hand be undertaken," the MEA said in a statement.Home Minister Amit Shah had tweeted, "No propaganda can deter India's unity! No propaganda can stop India to attain new heights! Propaganda can not decide India's fate... only 'Progress' can. India stands united and together to achieve progress," on Wednesday following Rihanna's tweet.Soon afterwards, several Indian celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Akshay Kumar and others took to Twitter to talk about the issue with #IndiaAgainstPropaganda and #IndiaTogether hashtags used originally by the MEA.Thousands of farmers have been protesting against the Centre's farm laws that were passed back in September, for several weeks now. The Centre have made it clear that they would not roll back the laws while the farmers have refused to accept anything less than a complete rollback.Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital against the three farm laws: Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

Hindustan Times

08-02-2021

India