The Power of Twitter takes #FarmersProtest to the Global Level

Since November, thousands of farmers have encamped outside the Indian capital city New Delhi, are protesting against the farm laws passed in September.

And just a few days ago the #FarmersProtest went global with just a single tweet by the American pop singer Rihanna who has more than 100 million Twitter followers.

Rihanna had written just a single line wrote “why aren’t we talking about this?!”, with a link to a news story about an internet blackout at protesting sites.

Read more: After Rihanna, Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon Voices Support For Farmers Protest In India

The citizens of the world’s largest democracy came out hitting at the US singer, and other celebrities who voiced support for #FarmersSupport, while India’s foreign ministry called Rihanna“sensationalist”.

“The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible,” said the foreign ministry on Wednesday.

And that’s what we call the power of Twitter, Rihanna’s single post was retweeted by more than one million people.

Following Rihanna, a number of international celebrities, political leaders, and activists,  including Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, Meena Harris, an American lawyer and niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, actor Amanda Cerni, singers Jay Sean, Dr. Zeus, and former adult star Mia Khalifa, have voiced their support the protesting farmers.

Tweets from international celebrities have brought a social media storm in India.

 

A number of Indian celebrities came out calling international celebrities terming these protests their internal matter without realizing that such behavior is humiliating the face of democracy in India.

A number of Cricketers including Sachin Tendulkar,  Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar, and actors and directors, including Anupam Kher, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and Karan Johar, joined the bandwagon against the international celebrities labeling them foreigners ”, using the same hashtags promoted by the government.

It has become the biggest challenge to Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he took power in 2014.

Here is how social media reacts to Indian celebrities’ tweets hiding behind the government.

 

As being reported, responding to Twitter reactions, the Indian government had threatened Twitter with “penal action” for unlocking 250 accounts and tweets on the farmers’ protests that the US company had earlier blocked.

The microblogging site did take an initial action following a government notice however, the decision was reversed after a few hours.