Rihanna creates a stir with #FarmersProtest tweet; Greta Thunberg joins singer in lending her voice to the movement

American pop superstar Rihanna created a flutter on Twitter, on Tuesday, as she joined the conversation about the ongoing farmers' protest in India.

Sharing a CNN article on the demonstrations with her 100.9 million followers on the platform, the 'Umbrella' hitmaker used the trending hashtag #FarmersProtest, while tweeting, "Why aren’t we talking about this?!"


The tweet led to RiRi trending on the micro-blogging platform. Many users lauded her for speaking in support of the farmers, while calling out Twitter and asking if it would now 'withhold' the singer's account as it had previously done with several Indian handles (that were later restored).

Among those who were unhappy with Rihanna's tweet was actress Kanagana Ranaut. The 'Queen' actress, who has 3 million followers on the site, lashed out at the singer, calling the farmers "terrorists" and the singer a "fool".

"No one is talking about it because they are not farmers they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony much like USA... Sit down you fool, we are not selling our nation like you dummies," Ranaut tweeted.


Within hours of Rihanna's tweet, the movement had gathered more international support in the form of climate activist Greta Thunberg, lawyer-author Meena Harris, and YouTuber-comedian Lilly Singh.

Thunberg, founder of the campaigning group 'Fridays for Future' and a nominee for the Nobel Peace prize, shared the CNN article, showing support for the farmers.

"We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India," the 18-year-old tweeted to her 4.6 million followes.


At the time of writing this, Rihanna's post had been retweeted 198.4K times, and Thunberg's had been retweeted close to 50K times.

YouTuber Lilly Singh called it a 'humanity issue' and thanked Rihanna for drawing more attention to it.


US Vice-President Kamala Harris's niece Meena also tweeted calling for action against India's Internet shutdowns and 'paramilitary violence against farmer protesters'.

"It’s no coincidence that the world’s oldest democracy was attacked not even a month ago, and as we speak, the most populous democracy is under assault. This is related. We ALL should be outraged by India’s internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters.," Harris tweeted.


Tens of thousands of young and old farmers have been protesting on different borders leading into New Delhi for more than two months, sheltering in tractors from the cold, against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agricultural reforms.