Greta Thunberg's toolkit on farm protest creates uproar; she takes it down, posts 'update'
The document in Thunberg's tweet had details about January 26 protests and other street protests. The screenshots of the documents were widely shared on social media.
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg is in the middle of a controversy over her tweets on the farmers' protest in India.
Her tweets also included a toolkit (a document) which talked about widespread protests across the world over the issue. As Twitter erupted, the access to document was restricted and post deleted.
The document in Thunberg's tweet had details about January 26 protests and other street protests. The screenshots of the documents were widely shared on social media.
The buzz was around the fact that there is a conspiracy afoot at the international level to defame India over the farmers' protest.
HT Editorial: On global criticism, tread with caution
Thunberg later posted an update, claiming that the document was removed because it was dated. She also posted a link to 'updated toolkit'.
Other celebrities who tweeted about the issue are international pop icon Rihanna who shared a CNN article about suspension of internet at sites where farmers are protesting. "Why aren’t we talking about this?!" she tweeted adding the hashtags #FarmersProtest.
Watch: Govt slams Rihanna, Thunberg and other celebrities' tweets on farm laws
This led to a barrage of tweets from other celebrities like former Indian cricket captain Sachin Tendulkar who said that India's sovereignty cannot be compromised and external forces cannot become participants.
"India's sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants. Indians know India and should decide for India. Let's remain united as a nation," tweeted Tendulkar adding hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda, made popular after government statement on the issue.
A statement from the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said that criticism by foreign celebrities and attempts to “mobilise international support against India” on the government’s handling of the farmers’ protests without ascertaining facts were “neither accurate nor responsible”.
The MEA statement contended that “vested interest groups” were trying to enforce their agenda on the protests to derail them, and have tried to mobilise global support against India. In this context, the statement referred to “sensationalist social media hashtags and comments” by “celebrities and others” but didn’t name anyone.
The statement was shared by all the ministers with #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda, turning it into a a social media movement.
