Updated Feb 15, 2021 · 09:56 pm A photo of Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. | Anil Deshmukh/ Facebook
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday said that a preliminary police investigation by has revealed the role of a Bharatiya Janata Party Information Technology cell head and 12 other influencers in an inquiry related to Indian celebrities tweeting in support of the Centre’s handling of the farmers’ protests.
The home minister also clarified that he had not ordered an inquiry into the tweets of celebrities such as singer Lata Mangeshkar and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. “My statement regarding celebrity tweets on the issue of farmers’ protest has been twisted,” Deshmukh said. “I had ordered an inquiry into the BJP’s IT cell as it was likely to be involved in the case and not celebrities.”
A file photo of India s Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar. | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP
Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that the “toolkit” tweeted by Swedish climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg in her posts expressing support for the farmers’ protests have “revealed a lot”, ANI reported.
He also defended the foreign ministry’s official statement countering tweets on the matter by Thunberg, pop singer Rihanna and other international personalities.
“We have to wait and see what else comes out,” Jaishankar said. “There was a reason why the foreign ministry reacted to statements which some celebrities gave out on matters on which they obviously didn’t know very much.”
Farm law protests: Over 100 British MPs urge Boris Johnson to take up matter with PM Modi
The letter said that people in UK were ‘horrified to see’ the use of water cannons and tear gas against protesting farmers. Jan 10, 2021 · 04:42 pm Police personnel use water canons on protesting farmers to stop them from marching to Delhi in Ambala on November 26. | PTI
Over 100 members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom have written to the country’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, urging him to take up the farmers’ protests against India’s new agriculture laws with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The letter dated January 5, was released by UK’s Labour Party MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi on Twitter on Friday. It said that people in the UK, especially with links to Punjab or India, were “horrified to see footage of water cannon, tear gas and brute force” against peacefully protesting farmers.
Updated Jan 10, 2021 · 06:07 pm Representative image: Farmers and their supporters during their ongoing protest against the new farm laws, at Singhu border in New Delhi on Sunday. | Arun Sharma/ PTI
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s visit to a village near Karnal city was cancelled on Sunday, after a group of farmers opposing the Centre’s agriculture laws ransacked the venue, reported NDTV.
Earlier during the day, the police had used water cannons and tear gas and resorted to baton charge to stop protestors from reaching a helipad in Kaimla village, where Khattar was scheduled to land to address the farmers in a “kisan mahapanchayat” event, according to