After international pop start Rihanna became first global name to voice her support to ongoing farmers' agitation in India, former England cricketer Monty Panesar has invited her for an interview in her Radio talk show.
Panesar asked Rihanna to join for an interview in a bid to discuss the farmers' issues in India. "It would be an honour to interview you @panjabradio_ @AsianFXRadio on my show 'The Full Monty' this Saturday to talk about farmers issues in India #farmersrprotest #IndianFarmersRevolution2020," Panesar said in his tweet.
Panesar hosts a radio show called "The Full Monty" at the Panjab Radio every Saturday afternoon.
On the other hand, former Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha asked Rihanna to stay away from India's internal matters. Ojha wrote on Twitter: "My country is proud of our farmers and knows how important they are, I trust it will be addressed soon. We don't need an outsider poking her nose in our internal matters!".
Yesterday, the nine times Grammy award winner, tweeted a news article about the internet shutdown at the protest site, and wrote: "Why aren't we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest".
The 32-year-old singer has the fourth-highest followers on Twitter (101 million) after Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry, according to Statista.com. The singer's tweet gained instant traction on Twitter, with more than 205,000 retweets and more than 436,000 likes until now.
Bollywood actors Richa Chadha and Swara Bhasker, who have been vocal supporters of the farmers' agitation, lauded Rihanna's remarks, while actor Kangana Ranaut criticised her statement. "No one is talking about it because they are not farmers, they are terrorists who are trying to divide India..." Kangana Ranaut told her 3 million followers on the same platform.
The singer, who has global chartbusters like "Diamonds", "Umbrella" and "We Found Love" to her credit, was hailed by a section of social media users for speaking up at a time when many Bollywood celebrities have stayed mum on the issue.
Only a few stars from Bollywood, however, have come out in support of farmers, including Diljit Dosanjh, Taapsee Pannu, Richa Chadha, Sonu Sood, filmmaker Hansal Mehta, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and Divya Dutta.
Farmer unions on Monday announced a countrywide 'chakka jam' on February 6 saying they would block national and state highways for three hours in protest against the internet ban at their agitation sites and harassment allegedly meted out to them by authorities.
Sites of the farmer protest at Delhi's borders have turned into fortresses with the police beefing up security and putting up multi-layer barricades to stop movement of vehicles. The strengthened security measures at agitation sites across Delhi borders come after the violence during the Republic Day tractor parade.
Also read: 'We stand in solidarity': After Rihanna, Greta Thunberg support farmers' protest
Also read: It's Rihanna vs Kangana on farm protests