Sachin Tendulkar's poster smeared with oil by Youth Congress over ‘India Together’ Tweet

Former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's poster was smeared with black oil by members of Kerala's Youth Congress after he tweeted against the meddling of foreign personalities in the ongoing farmers' stir. The batting maestro has been subject to extensive criticism by several factions for calling out the propaganda by 'external forces'. Following Tendulkar, several members of the cricket fraternity had tweeted against the wading in of foreign personalities including pop-sensation Rihanna and environment activist Greta Thunberg. 

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On February 3, Tendulkar had tweeted that external forces can be spectators but not participants in India's internal affairs. His tweet came after Rihanna had shared a news story on the ongoing farmers' agitation in India and tweeted, "Why aren't we talking about this?" What followed was several personalities including Greta Thunberg and US Vice President Kamala Harris' niece Meena Harris tweeting in support of the agitating farmers. In response, several cricketers and Bollywood personalities had tweeted against the meddling and called for unity in India, hoping for quick resolution of the ongoing impasse between the government and the farmers. 

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'Insult to Bharat Ratna': RJD

Earlier in the day, RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari also hit out at the former India cricketer and said that the government fielded people like Sachin Tendulkar to counter Greta Thunberg or Rihanna, adding that the farmers do not even know who these people are. Speaking to news agency ANI, Tiwari said, "Farmers do not understand Twitter. This Twitter politics has started recently and everyone is doing it. Farmers living in villages have no information about Twitter. They do not know anything about Greta Thunberg or that singer (Rihanna) and against them, you have fielded Sachin Tendulkar."

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"He is a Bharat Ratna but he keeps doing advertisements. He is a model. This is an insult to Bharat Ratna to give such prestigious award to people like Sachin Tendulkar. By making these people speak, do they want that the world turns a blind eye on the issue? The world is moving forward, such things won't work anymore," he added.

MEA quashes foreign meddling

The meddling of global personalities in India's internal matters forced the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to issue a statement and quash the propaganda. In a strongly-worded statement, the MEA made it clear that the farm reforms were enacted by the Parliament after a full debate and discussion. Maintaining that only a very small section of farmers have reservations about these laws, it mentioned that the Centre has not only conducted 11 rounds of talks with farm unions but also offered to keep the implementation of the laws on hold. The MEA lamented that "vested groups" were trying to derail the protests despite this scenario. To buttress its point, it highlighted the violence that took place in the national capital during the farmers' tractor rally. 

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