MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government’s intelligence department will conduct a probe into allegations some celebrities were pressured to post tweets with regard to the farmers’ protest, said Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday.
Deshmukh made the remarks on an online platform after the Congress, a ruling coalition ally in Maharashtra, sought an investigation into the BJP’s alleged connection with recent tweets of some celebrities on the ongoing farm protest and to find out whether the saffron party “arm-twisted” them in posting those statements which were deemed pro-Centre.
In New Delhi, BJP president J P Nadda took a swipe at the Maharashtra government over the probe move, saying it has a unique model of governance that hails “noises of anarchy” from overseas but “harasses” patriotic Indians who stand for the nation.
“MVA in Maharashtra has a unique model of governance - hail noises of anarchy from overseas who show India in poor light but harass patriotic Indians who stand for the nation. It is difficult to decide what is more flawed: their priorities or their mindset?” Nadda tweeted.
Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant and some other party leaders on Monday raised the demand for a probe into tweets before Deshmukh in a meeting via video conference.
A number of prominent personalities, including cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, recently rallied around the central government on social media using hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda.