Actor Sonakshi Sinha, Akshay Kumar's co-star of many films, is among the celebrities to support of pop icon Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg's tweets on the on-going farmers' protest in India.
The actress, in her Instagram stories, shared quotes from Instagram page - storysellers comics, which said the voices raised by the international personalities are "about the violation of human rights, suppression of free internet and expression, state propaganda, hate speech, and abuse of power."
One of the stories on Sinha's Instagram also dismissed the argument that it was India's internal matter, saying, "these are not alien species but fellow humans who are speaking up for the rights of other humans."
Check out the post here:
A section of Bollywood celebrities on Thursday criticised big stars such as Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn for their similarly worded tweets in response to pop star Rihanna's post drawing attention to the farmers' agitation in India.
Actor Taapsee Pannu, filmmaker Onir, actor Arjun Mathur and others criticised the show of solidarity by the big stars towards the government. Rihanna, the fourth most followed celebrity on Twitter with over 100 million followers, on Tuesday took to the microblogging site and shared a CNN news article headlined, "India cuts internet around New Delhi as protesting farmers clash with police."
"Why aren't we talking about this? #FarmersProtest," Rihanna wrote on Tuesday.
Post her tweet, Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, Meena Harris, an American lawyer and niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, actors Amanda Cerni, singers Jay Sean, Dr Zeus and former adult star Mia Khalifa voiced their support to the protesting farmers.
India on Wednesday reacted sharply to these tweets with several Bollywood and cricket stars and top ministers rallying around the government in its pushback.
The "temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments" is neither accurate nor responsible, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Facts must be ascertained before the rush to comment, the ministry added, using the hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda to make its point.
Personalities including Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Lata Mangeshkar, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Karan Johar and others rallied around the government on social media using hashtags - #IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda as they reacted to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs on the issue.
These tweets advised people to not fall for "false propaganda" and support "an amicable resolution", rather than paying attention to anyone creating differences.
Calling it "embarrassing" and "tragic", many in the film industry called out the celebrities for their sudden Twitter activity while they failed to notice or acknowledge the plight of farmers.
(With inputs from PTI)
