Shiv Sena-NCP takes politics to a new unfathomable low with threat of police action against celebrities who spoke against foreign interference

It has been a general consensus amongst the public for quite some time that Shiv Sena has moved away from Hindutva politics and ditched its nationalistic credentials. The party founded by Bala Saheb Thackeray has now resorted to cheap, appeasement politics which certainly he would have abhorred. However, even by Shiv Sena’s failing standards, what the party is doing in the face of farmer’s protests is bone-chilling, to say the least. The Maharashtra Government on Monday launched a probe into the tweets by Sachin Tendulkar, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and others after they spoke in support of India and for unity in light of foreign celebs entering the farmers’ protest row.

News reports quoting sources have said that the Maharashtra government, via Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, assured Congress’ Sachin Sawant over a Zoom call that the state intelligence department will probe whether Sachin Tendulkar and others were pressurised to tweet by the Centre.

There was a series of tweets after MEA's response to Rihanna's tweet. If a person, be it a celebrity, opine on their own, it's fine but there's a scope of suspicion that BJP could be behind this. We have cited common words like 'amicable' in these tweets: Sachin Sawant, Congress pic.twitter.com/mjLPrJsgpu

— ANI (@ANI) February 8, 2021

The unfathomable low by the Shiv Sena-led government has come against celebs who merely used their platform to send a message of unity and that no foreign powers can divide the country. Nothing incriminating of sorts was peddled on the social media platform, unlike the toolkit by Greta Thunberg which involved a questionable amount of left-wing celebrities.

There are a few pertinent questions raised by this entire episode. How will the Maharashtra government go about the investigation? Will it lock up the recipient of Bharat Ratnas for showing solidarity with the country and calling for a peaceful solution? And even if the government did a PR stunt by instructing the celebs to tweet, what law in the Indian Penal Code or IT Act is seemingly broken by it?

Enough evidence in the public eye is swirling around suggesting that if there is any government that indulges in a bucketful of PR tweets, then it is none other than Shiv Sena.

So ⁦@AnilDeshmukhNCP⁩ when are you going to initiate a probe in these paid tweets? 👇 pic.twitter.com/vUuSCchsRk

— Shefali Vaidya. 🇮🇳 (@ShefVaidya) February 8, 2021

“India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants. Indians know India and should decide for India. Let’s remain united as a nation,” Tendulkar had tweeted.

India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants.
Indians know India and should decide for India. Let's remain united as a nation.#IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) February 3, 2021

Shiv Sena’s coalition partners Congress and NCP were also out for blood against the ‘God’ of cricket for his tweets. The Congress party, for instance, which has ruled India for a greater part of its independent history, had its youth workers in Kerala pour black oil on a cut-out poster of Tendulkar in Kochi.

Congress MP from Punjab, Jasbir Gill went on to say that the former batsman, who brought innumerable laurels to the country, should not have received the Bharat Ratna – India’s highest civilian award. Meanwhile, NCP’s senior leader Sharad Pawar ‘advised’ Sachin Tendulkar to exercise caution while speaking about any other field as many people have reacted sharply to the stand taken by Indian celebrities on farmers’ protests.

Similarly, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar became the rogue element for the Maha Vikas Aghadi government but a has-been pop star like Rihanna became the epitome of courage and country love, innit?

#IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda pic.twitter.com/JpUKyoB4vn

— Lata Mangeshkar (@mangeshkarlata) February 3, 2021

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. 🙏🏻#IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda https://t.co/LgAn6tIwWp

— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) February 3, 2021

Read more: Rihanna, Greta and Mia Vs Ajay, Akshay and Suniel: They came, they saw and they won

The hatred for PM Narendra Modi has transcended to hate for the country for the opposition parties. The wokes and the liberals who sermonize the government for a minor blip have kept a stoic silence on the entire issue.

Shiv Sena is doing no favours to its image by going after the aforementioned personalities who have brought countless laurels for the country. The cauldron of Shiv Sena’s misdoings is slowly filling to the brim and the public is taking a keen note of it. Come next election, the Shiv Sena will have to pay dearly for its anti-India stance.