Mumbai: Actor Akshay Kumar saw himself in the midst of heavy criticism after he tweeted in support of the government that spoke against global singing icon Rihanna and her post on farmers’ protest.
For the unaware, Akshay Kumar holds Canadian nationality after he applied for it in 2011. Rumors kept doing the rounds that he obtained the Canadian passport as he delivered 14 consecutive movie flops. However, he clarified in 2019 that he has applied for an Indian passport.
The actor gave his voice for joining in the opinion of the government and many union ministers who slammed the international singer indirectly for interfering in the matters of India. G. Kishan Reddy, Minister of Home Affairs, even went ahead to say that such people belong to the “international gang of anarchy lovers”.
Sharing the Ministry of External Affairs’ tweet, Akshay wrote, “Farmers constitute an extremely important part of our country. And the efforts being undertaken to resolve their issues are evident. Let’s support an amicable resolution, rather than paying attention to anyone creating differences.”
The MEA issued a warning statement to the stars who weren’t Indian yet involved in the matters. The government posted on Twitter saying, “The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible.”
It mentioned that only a “very small section of farmers in parts of the country” was unaccepting of the farm laws, while others have already welcomed it. The government added that these celebs needed a proper understanding of the issue before they “rush to comment”, as tweeted by the Finance Minister of India.
Those supporting the government on the matter showed their support by adding the hashtag #IndiaTogether in their tweets as did the MEA.
Following Akshay’s footsteps were actors Ajay Devgan, Suniel Shetty, and filmmaker Karan Johar. While Ajay urged people to not “fall for any false propaganda”, the producer asked people to “not let anyone divide us”.
However, many social media users pointed out that Akshay Kumar isn’t an Indian himself and how he can then hold the authority to comment about Indian affairs while slamming Rihanna for not being Indian at the same time.
“Is Akshay Kumar is also a foreigner. How can he tweet about India?”, “A Canadian interfering”, “A Canadian citizen interfering in the internal affairs of India, how about that then, Akshay Kumar”, “Mr. Akshay Kumar have you surrendered your Canadian nationality? If not, why you concerned about India you should be considered your motherland – Canada”, wrote users on NDTV’s comment section.
“Farmers’ protests are an internal matter of our country. Canadians have no right to comment on our internal matters,” commented a user on Akshay’s tweet. Soon after, Twitter was trending with the word “spineless” as many users addressed the actor and other Bollywood celebs with it.
The whole ruckus began after Rihanna, Greta Thunberg and Amanda Cerny posted about the farmers’ protests of India and how it isn’t getting enough limelight on the world.
