Mumbai: Anil Deshmukh, Maharashtra Home Minister on Monday ordered the State Intelligence Department (SID) to conduct an investigation into whether some celebrities were under pressure to tweet at the request of the Centre on the farmers’ protest.

Recently, in the wake of tweets by international celebrities such as pop-singer Rihanna and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who tweeted in support of the ongoing farmers’ protests, Indian celebrities from various fields, including cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, and many Bollywood celebs, had tweeted using hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropoganda.

From Hindi film entertainment, Karan Johar, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Ekta Kapoor, Ajay Devgn and more requested people not to fall for false propaganda against India.

Meanwhile, Congress' spokesperson Sachin Sawant justified state government's decision to order an investigation into the tweets of the celebrities. Talking to ANI he said, "The government sprung into action after Rihanna tweeted on the farmers' issue. This was followed by a series of tweets from celebrities. If a person, be it a celebrity, opines on their own, it's fine. But there is scope for suspicion that the BJP is behind this. Similar words like 'amicable' have been used in these tweets."

Two national icons (Sachin and Lata Mangeshkar) who had managed to be ‘controversy-free’ for a large part of their public life are receiving support from many. The cricket God had always preferred his words carefully and had also not taken a firm stand in many of the complex topics. Same goes with India’s legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar.

Soon after the Home Ministered ordered the probe, netizens couldn’t stop slamming the current government of the state. One of the Twitter user said, “Shivasena Lost Everything What Earned by Bala Saheb Thackeray ji.” Another user on micro-blogging website said, “Shame on u #MaharashtraGovernment #CongressAgainstDeshbhakt They r ours diamond #BharatRatna @sachin_rt @mangeshkarlata.”

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