Robyn Rihanna Fenty, A Barbadian singer, actress and businesswoman also known as Popstar Rihanna has recently caught the attention of Indians and national and global media after her tweet #FarmersProtest quoting, “Why aren’t we talking about this?” went viral.
Since her tweet, there has been an outpouring of support from the international community for the farmers protests against the three agricultural laws.
Celebrities and activists such as Greta Thunberg, Lilly Singh, Jamie Margolin, Elizabeth Wathuti, United Kingdom MP Claudia Webbe, Khaled Beydoun and many more have tweeted, extending solidarity with #FarmersProtests and thanked Rihanna for highlighting the issue.
Meena Harris, An American Lawyer and the niece of United State’s Vice President, Kamala Harris has insisted that everyone should be enraged by India’s internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protestors.
Meena Harris tweeted,
“It’s no coincidence that the world’s oldest democracy was attacked not even a month ago and as we speak, the most populous democracy is under assault,” wrote while referring to the storming of the US Capitol in January,”
“This is related.”
After Rihanna’s tweet, a series of reactions stormed on the internet, some supported Rihanna’s stand and some trolled her including Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut who is well-known for her Hindutva stand and controversial tweets, asking the famous popstar not to poke nose in India’s internal matters.
Soon after innumerable tweets by global personalities over the 24 hours highlighting solidarity with #FarmersProtest that spread like wildfire, the Indian Government’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) released a statement with #IndiaAgainstPropaganda and #IndiaTogether that restated its stand on the controversial laws and said that the groups with “vested interests” are trying to mobilise International support against India.
It stated, “We would like to emphasize that these protests must be seen in the context of India’s democratic ethos and polity,”.
“The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible,” it added.
Soon after Rihanna’s tweet, Diljit Dosanjh released a new song praising Rihanna after she drew attention to farmers’ protests which became the second highlight after the statement of Ministry of External Affairs.