Will probe celebs tweets over farmers' protest: Anil Deshmukh
Will probe Indian celebrities tweets over farmers' protest: Maharashtra Minister Anil Deshmukh
Synopsis
“Even if any political leader speaks against the BJP, they face ED or CBI pressure. We will investigate if the celebrities were under pressure or coercion from the Centre to tweet in its favour. We will ask our intelligence agency to investigate it,” Deshmukh said on Monday.
By Krishna Kumar, ET Bureau
Last Updated:
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government will probe how celebrities such as Sachin Tendulkar, Akshay Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar tweeted almost simultaneously in support of the government’s farm laws with similar allegations popstar Rihanna and activist Greta Thurnberg ‘interfering’ with India’s internal issue. Home minister Anil Deshmukh said on Monday that the state’s intelligence wing would investigate if the Centre ‘coerced’ the celebrities to tweet in support of the farm laws.
The announcement came after a delegation of Congress leaders led by Sachin Sawant held a video meeting with him on Monday. Sawant told Deshmukh, “several Bollywood celebrities have tweeted in support of the government and so have cricketers… Bollywood is under pressure from the government due to the Narcotics Control Bureau because an attempt is being made to link them with drugs. Cricketers tweets also has a BJP connection due to BCCI.” Sawant said the tweets were posted almost at the same time and those of badminton player Sania Nehwal and actor Akshay Kumar had the same words, though they were not re-tweets. He said that actor Suniel Shetty had tagged a BJP leader in his tweet and a probe on whether the BJP was behind the tweets was, hence, needed.
Deshmukh agreed with Sawant. “How did they all come together at the same time to tweet? The wording is also similar. We will get this investigated.” Mangeshkar, Karan Johar, Tendulkar, Nehwal and Ajay Devgn had tweeted against Thunberg and Rihanna.
The BJP lambasted Deshmukh’s remark and said that it was unfortunate that the government would probe Bharat Ratna recipients. BJP leaders like Devendra Fadnavis and Mumbai BMC campaign in charge Atul Bhatkalkar said that the state government ‘had lost its senses’. “We need to probe the mental state and stability of the ones who made such a demand and people who ordered probe against our Bharat Ratnas,” tweeted Fadnavis.
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“Even if any political leader speaks against the BJP, they face ED or CBI pressure. We will investigate if the celebrities were under pressure or coercion from the Centre to tweet in its favour. We will ask our intelligence agency to investigate it,” Deshmukh said on Monday.The announcement came after a delegation of Congress leaders led by Sachin Sawant held a video meeting with him on Monday. Sawant told Deshmukh, “several Bollywood celebrities have tweeted in support of the government and so have cricketers… Bollywood is under pressure from the government due to the Narcotics Control Bureau because an attempt is being made to link them with drugs. Cricketers tweets also has a BJP connection due to BCCI.” Sawant said the tweets were posted almost at the same time and those of badminton player Sania Nehwal and actor Akshay Kumar had the same words, though they were not re-tweets. He said that actor Suniel Shetty had tagged a BJP leader in his tweet and a probe on whether the BJP was behind the tweets was, hence, needed.
Deshmukh agreed with Sawant. “How did they all come together at the same time to tweet? The wording is also similar. We will get this investigated.” Mangeshkar, Karan Johar, Tendulkar, Nehwal and Ajay Devgn had tweeted against Thunberg and Rihanna.
The BJP lambasted Deshmukh’s remark and said that it was unfortunate that the government would probe Bharat Ratna recipients. BJP leaders like Devendra Fadnavis and Mumbai BMC campaign in charge Atul Bhatkalkar said that the state government ‘had lost its senses’. “We need to probe the mental state and stability of the ones who made such a demand and people who ordered probe against our Bharat Ratnas,” tweeted Fadnavis.
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)