Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to an international conspiracy to defame India and bring down its image should not be taken lightly. The government is doing what it can to defeat the external forces but people must resolve to fight them collectively despite ideological differences. The Maharashtra government’s decision to investigate the tweets by the icons of the nation to oppose this conspiracy is an indicator of the fact that the Opposition is completely out of its mind. Instead, they should have asked for an investigation into the tweets by Rihanna, Greta Thunberg and others.
A strong India, rising firmly on the world horizon with its robust democratic institutions, is an eyesore for dictators around the world. Countries and their leaders are increasingly realising that it is much safer to do business in India and run their operations from here than face an uncertain future in China or other countries that thrive on dictatorship of various kinds, based on ideology or military strength. Naturally, these countries would try to malign India and use the fault-lines to show India as a land of conflict and unrest. Our opposition parties with their vested interests are falling prey to their conspiracy.
It is in this context that pop singer Rihanna’s tweet supporting the farmers’ agitation should be understood, even as it puts a big question mark on her credibility. A global reaction to an event often leads to bad conclusions. If one is tweeting because of an emotional outpour, they may get the benefit of doubt. They may not have enough knowledge or may have been misguided by vested interests. But what happens is that you may appear to be a part of a larger conspiracy. Worse still, there may be the impression that one has been paid to take a stand. What is true of Rihanna is also true of environmentalist Greta Thunberg. If you wish to lecture India on democracy and tolerance, it won’t be wrong on our part to assume that you know about us, our systems and our cultural values.
Thunberg tweeted immediately after Rihanna as a part of the ‘toolkit’ that was circulated to all who were supposed to tweet in support of the protest. One wonders if she should not have been more worried about the depletion of the water table in Punjab and Haryana and the excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers. Salinity in some parts of Punjab is worse than in some of the saline seas. By mistake, she tweeted the toolkit as well and gave away the conspiracy to malign India.
Since Rihanna is a bigger celebrity than Thunberg, the focus has naturally shifted to her. The question which is being debated is: is Rihanna a paid assassin to malign the Indian government abroad? Is she part of the conspiracy to give credence to pro-Khalistan forces? Is she doing this deliberately or as a part of the group that supports the Leftist echo system? Is she part of the echo system of George Soros who has vowed to fight against Prime Minister Narendra Modi?
The Leftist echo system and anti-India forces got excited after the victory of Joe Biden in the US, anticipating that the new US administration would take an anti-Modi stand. They never get tired of hawking that Modi had said in the US “Ab ki baar, Trump sarkar” at the ‘Howdy Modi’ event, hardly realizing the context in which it had been said. Now they are getting increasingly frustrated that the Biden administration has supported the farm legislations in India. No country in the world except Canada has come out in support of the farmers’ agitation and everyone knows why Canada is doing so. Is Rihanna’s tweet then an attempt to influence the US administration as well? Sweden has officially distanced itself from Thunberg’s statement, stating that it had nothing to comment on.
A report in the media claimed that Rihanna was paid $2.5 million (roughly Rs 18 crore) by a PR firm run by Khalistani supporters to tweet her support for the agitating farmers. Rihanna has 101 million (10.1 crore) followers. Although the claim about the payment has been denied, there are many questions that point to the contrary.
Canada-based Poetic Justice Foundation (PJF) was involved in running a concerted campaign on the agitation and has been trying to create uproar against India across the world. Sadly, this has failed to take off at the level of governments around the globe. The organisation was exposed when its toolkit for the movement got out due to Thunberg’s inadvertent publication of the same and revealed the entire conspiracy, showing that the support was not organic, but a part of a grand design to malign India. It revealed that the sinister campaign has been on since November 2020 and had a blueprint for build up till 26 January, 2021. Thunberg realised her mistake and removed the tweet but the cat was already out of the bag.
Who will tweet what and how the events will unfold appear to be well orchestrated: Rihanna would tweet and Thunberg would follow. Rihanna’s tweet came at 8.59 pm on 3 February 2021. Within a few hours, Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh came out with a song “RiRi”, praising the popstar as an angel. The haste with which the song was dished out pointed out that everything was not organic.
Rihanna’s India connection would not make her proud. Her beauty product, Fenty Beauty, uses blood mica from Jharkhand where child labour is employed for maximizing profit. An NGO has complained and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is looking into this. While this is illegal in India, it is a big crime in the US and other countries of Europe and the West.
The Indian establishment naturally had to react and expose the conspiracy by non-state actors sitting outside trying to foist trouble to further their agenda and create disharmony in the name of human rights. No sensible person in this country would say that the human rights of the agitating farmers have been violated. On the contrary, anti-social elements in the garb of farmers have resorted to violence to provoke the police to fire on them. The conspiracy was defeated when the Delhi Police decided to take lathis on themselves rather than opening fire on 26 January.
It was quite natural for those who understood this game plan and were hurt by such an international conspiracy to take to Twitter and give their reactions. Such personalities included Bharat Ratna awardees Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar, cine star Akshay Kumar and many others. All Indians were expressing their love for the country in different ways and did not like such conspiracies to malign India. In no way did they speak against the agitating farmers, and they were confident that India is resilient enough to find a solution to this.
This has unnerved the Congress and its allied forces since their balloon has burst. They can go to any extent to oppose Narendra Modi and the BJP even if it ends up undermining the country’s image. They are aware that dislodging the BJP from power at the Centre is next to impossible. Their strength in the Parliament is not enough to stop any legislation. So, while they lose debates inside Parliament, they are trying to create a ruckus on the streets.
The Maharashtra government’s decision to investigate the tweets of such national icons is nothing but an attempt to harass these people and keep the chaos going. Nothing would come out of this since imagining that the government is asking these people to tweet is not the same as the presence of a toolkit that shows meticulous planning to malign India. These people, like many others, do not need to be given tutorials on nationalism. But those who tweeted as a part of the toolkit operation definitely need lessons about India, a country that they may not be much aware of.
The writer is convener of the Media Relations Department of the BJP and represents the party as a spokesperson on TV debates. He has authored the book ‘Narendra Modi: The Game Changer’. The views expressed are personal.
A report in the media claimed that Rihanna was paid $2.5 million (roughly Rs 18 crore) by a PR firm run by Khalistani supporters to tweet her support for the agitating farmers. Rihanna has 101 million (10.1 crore) followers. Although the claim about the payment has been denied, there are many questions that point to the contrary.