The Congress party might very well soon find itself embroiled in a controversy for making an unsavoury statement about master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, after he tweeted on the ongoing farmers' protest on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, a group of Indian Youth Congress workers had poured black oil on a cut-out of Sachin Tendulkar in Kochi, in protest to the cricketing legend's tweets about international personalities commenting on the farm laws.
Today, Congress MP Jasbir Singh Gill slammed the celebrities, including Akshay Kumar and Sachin Tendulkar.
Gill also asked the people of the country to boycott such actors who came out in support of the Centre on the farmers' issues .
"I strongly condemn these people. I think films of all these actors should be boycotted by those of support farmers," Congress MP Gill told news agency ANI.
Talking about the tweets of the celebrities, the Congress leader claimed, "Nobody takes Akshay Kumar seriously who had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi whether he eats mango or not. By making these actors tweet on farmers' protests, the government has shown its fear. Sachin Tendulkar only tweeted to get his son to play IPL."
"Today the world has become a short global village. Export and import of all kinds of produce take place from one place to another. Everybody sympathises with the farmers as they belong to the whole of humankind," he further added.
Over the question that few people are glorifying the protest, Gill said, "If someone has tweeted in favour of the farmers, then it shouldn't be termed as glorification. To my mind, people 'worse' than (pop star) Rihanna have ignored the plight of our farmers, their hard work, and ongoing struggle. All of this, just to run their shops and toe line of the government."
Earlier today, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray said that the government should not have "asked," big personalities like former batsman Sachin Tendulkar and legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar to tweet in their support on the issue and put their "reputation" at stake.
"The government should not have asked big personalities like Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar to tweet in support of its stand and put their reputation at stake. They are recipients of Bharat Ratna. Actors like Akshay Kumar were enough for this task," said Thackeray.
Days after Tendulkar made comments on the protest by farmers, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar had asked the former Indian cricketer to "exercise caution while speaking about other fields".
For the uninitiated, Sachin had tweeted, "India's sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants. Indians know India and should decide for India. Let's remain united as a nation. #IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda."
His remarks came after a few international celebrities including pop star Rihanna commented on farmers' protests.
(With inputs from agencies)