Kangana has some bizarre replies for Rihanna, Greta after they lend support to India's farmers protests
US pop superstar Rihanna created a flutter in India on Tuesday by wading into months-long farmer protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agricultural reforms.
Tens of thousands of young and old farmers have blocked roads leading into New Delhi for more than two months, sheltering in tractors from the cold.
A tractor rally by farmers last week in New Delhi turned violent. Police responded by shutting down the internet, digging ditches, driving nails into roads and topping barricades with razor wire to prevent farmers from entering the capital again.
“Why aren’t we talking about this?!” Rihanna said in a Twitter post, sharing a CNN article on the demonstrations with her 100.9 million followers on the platform, using the hashtag #FarmersProtest.
It was not immediately clear what led Rihanna, whose songs have done well in India, to suddenly tweet on the subject.
The same article was shared by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, who also expressed solidarity with the farmers.
As she trended on Twitter in India, Kangana Ranaut, who backs India’s ruling nationalist party, lashed out at Rihanna.
"No one is talking about it because they are not farmers; they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony much like USA..." Ranaut told her 3 million followers on the same platform, adding: "Sit down you fool, we are not selling our nation like you dummies."
The Queen actor also snapped back at Thunberg, saying: "No fancy activists will talk about genuine environmentalist our own grandma ... but they will definitely promote dumb and a spoilt brat Greta Thunberg who is being used by entire left lobby and in return she gets to skip her education and school."
The protests are led by Sikh farmers from the wheat and rice-growing state of Punjab in India’s north. The close-knit community, which is spread around the world, has also organised protests in Australia, Britain and the United States.
Sikh Coalition, a New York-based rights group, thanked Rihanna for casting more international spotlight on the subject.
“For over a week, the Indian government has been suspending internet services around #FarmersProtest sites in a clear affront to the freedom of speech,” it said on Twitter.
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