The Maharashtra government has ordered a probe into the tweets of Bollywood stars and sportspersons who used the social media platform to express their opinion after the Ministry of External Affairs responded to pop star Rihanna on her comment about farmers’ protest.

Many celebrities including Sachin Tendulkar, Akshay Kumar and legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar had rallied around the government on social media using hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda following tweets by pop singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg backing farmers.

Addressing a press conference, Congress leader Sachin Sawant expressed suspicions that the BJP government could be behind the series of tweets by the Indian celebrities. Mentioning sportspersons Sachin Tendulkar and Saina Nehwal and Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty, Sawant said the posts looked suspicious with regard to its timing and that these celebrities could have been pressured by the Modi government.

“There was a series of tweets after MEA’s response to Rihanna’s tweet. If a person opines on their own, it’s fine but there’s scope of suspicion that BJP could be behind this…Spoke to Home Minister Deshmukh. He has given orders to the Intelligence department to probe,” said Maharashtra Congress general secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant.

#WATCH | There was series of tweets after MEA’s response to Rihanna’s tweet. If a person opines on their own, it’s fine but there’s scope of suspicion that BJP could be behind this…Spoke to HM Deshmukh. He has given orders to Intelligence dept to probe: Congress’ Sachin Sawant pic.twitter.com/kutYYJjxqG

— ANI (@ANI) February 8, 2021

He further said that these celebrities have the right to personal opinion and if they are under any kind of pressure, then the issue should be probed.

“There is a similar pattern in these tweets by celebrities, including Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and sportspersons Sachin Tendulkar and Saina Nehwal. This shows that there was some communication between the celebrities and the ruling party leaders. There needs to be an investigation to check if these national heroes were pressurised by the BJP for such advocacy on the social media. If so, these celebrities need to be given more protection,” he said.

Recently, NCP leader Sharad Pawar had asked Tendulkar to be more careful while speaking on farmers’ issues. “I would suggest to Sachin (Tendulkar) that he should be careful while speaking on the issues related to other fields,” Pawar told reporters.

The tweets from these celebrities came after the MEA termed the social media hashtags and comments by foreign entities as “neither accurate nor responsible”.