The Delhi Police filed an FIR against environmental activist Greta Thunberg for her tweets on the farmers protests, NDTV reported.
This, just two days after Thunberg, pop star Rihanna and US vice-president Kamal Harris’ niece, Meena Harris, and several other international names came out in support of the farmers protests against the Centre’s new agriculture laws.
As per NDTV, Thunberg has been charged with “promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language… and acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.”
Soon after news of the FIR, Thunberg tweeted:
I still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that. #FarmersProtest — Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 4, 2021
Thunberg earlier on Thursday tweeted out a “toolkit” on how to support the protests.
Here’s an updated toolkit by people on the ground in India if you want to help. (They removed their previous document as it was outdated.)#StandWithFarmers #FarmersProtesthttps://t.co/ZGEcMwHUNL — Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 3, 2021
“We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India,” Thunberg had tweeted on Tuesday after Rihanna promoted a CNN news story headlined: “India cuts internet around New Delhi as protesting farmers clash with police.” The Swedish activist had previously deleted a similar “toollkit” with information on how to support farmers on Republic Day.
Following tweets from international celebrities on Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday said it is unfortunate to see vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda on the protests and derail them.
“Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken,” the MEA said in a statement. “The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible,” it further added.
The detailed MEA statement noted that the Parliament of India, only after a ‘full debate and discussion’ had passed reformist legislation relating to the agricultural sector.
Hours after the MEA statement, Indian politicians such as Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Bollywood stars such as Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar and Suneil Shetty and cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar, Shikhar Dhawan and Ravi Shastri, put out social media posts condemning Rihanna and Thunberg’s tweets and used the hashtags ‘IndiaAgainstPropaganda’ and ‘IndiaTogether’.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at Delhi”s borders for over two months against the laws.
With inputs from PTI