After the tweets from international celebrities, the Ministry of External Affairs had said it is unfortunate to see vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda on the protests and derail them
Greta Thunberg in a still from I Am Greta. Instagram
The Delhi Police has cited Greta Thunberg’s controversial tweet on a “toolkit” for supporting the farmer protests in a case filed today that includes charges of sedition, an overseas “conspiracy” and an attempt to “promote enmity between groups”.
“Taking cognisance of the toolkit, the police has registered a case for spreading disaffection against the government of India (sedition) and disharmony between groups on religious, social and cultural grounds, and criminal conspiracy to give shape to this,” Praveer Ranjan, Special Commissioner of Police, told NDTV.
Ranjan said the toolkit “exposes the conspiracy by an organised overseas network” to instigate the farmer protests.
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 (They removed their previous document as it was outdated.)#StandWithFarmers #FarmersProtesthttps://t.co/ZGEcMwHUNL — Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) February 3, 2021
Asked whether Thunberg has been named in the FIR, Ranjan responded, “We haven’t named anybody in the FIR, it’s only against the creators of toolkit which is a matter of investigation and Delhi Police will be investigating that case.”
The Swedish activist had previously deleted a similar “toolkit” with information on how to support farmers on Republic Day.
Soon after news, 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
“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.”
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
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