MVA govt wants to probe icons who tweeted in national interest, says Fadnavis; Deshmukh hits back

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday hit out at the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government alleging it wanted to take action against icons like Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar for tweeting in the national interest.

Speaking in the Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP leader said, "The MVA government want to investigate and questioning those who had tweeted in the national interest."

A number of prominent personalities, including Tendulkar and Mangeshkar had tweeted in support of the Centre on the microblogging platform Twitter in the last month after celebrities, including US pop star Rihanna and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg had tweeted in support of farmers who were protesting on Delhi's borders against the Centre's three farm laws.

"What did Lata Mangeshkar or Sachin Tendulkar write? They only tweeted against the propaganda going on against India. The toolkit cites that genocide occurs in India. The Poetic Justice Foundation created this toolkit in support of Khalistan. The toolkit mentioned how to create economic and social harm against India. Even if our party asked them to tweet in support of the country, then we are proud of this. And, this shows our patriotism," added Fadnavis.

Reacting to Fadnavis comment, Maharashtra Home Minister l Deshmukh said, "It is not a matter of taking action against Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar, but on the 10-12 people whose names were revealed after the investigation on BJP's IT cell."

Earlier on February 8, Fadnavis had condemned Home Minister, l Deshmukh for ordering a probe into celebrities' tweets on the ongoing farmers' protests.

"Disgusting and highly deplorable! Where is your Marathi pride now? Where is your Maharashtra dharma? We will never find such 'ratnas' (gems) in the entire nation who order probe against Bharat Ratnas who always stand strong in one voice for our nation. Has this Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government lost all its senses?" Fadnavis had tweeted.

( With inputs from ANI )