Soon after the annual Republic Day parade ended on Tuesday in New Delhi, farmers, who have been protesting against the new farming laws for months, broke through police barricades to storm the Red Fort complex, reported BBC.
Pictures and videos from the clash went viral on social media. Several members of the film fraternity, including actors Kangana Ranaut, Swara Bhasker, and Taapsee Pannu voiced their opinions about the protest.
Posting a video on Twitter, Ranaut said in Hindi that such incidents were humiliating for the nation, and called out those who supported the farmer’s agitation. She also asked the authorities to jail those who were in favour of the “so-called” protests. In tweets, she called out Diljit Dosanjh and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who had earlier shown support for the farmers.
Sick and tired of riots and blood bath almost every month , Delhi, Bangalore and now again Delhi #दिल्ली_पुलिस_लठ_बजाओ #RedFort pic.twitter.com/pWhXtOrqkx
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) January 26, 2021
In a tweet, she wrote, “Today I want to say each and every Indian who is supporting these riots is also a terrorist including anti national brands.”
While Bhasker re-tweeted several videos from the protest and showed her solidarity for the farmers, director and choreographer Farah Khan wrote in a tweet, “Every Bill has pros and cons & everything can be discussed & worked out amicably but when a Govt is adamant & only promotes those in favour of them, there is bound to be dissent.”
When the people raise their voices in protest peacefully & a Govt does not listen to those voices, there will be anarchy. The Govt is meant to listen to its people and help bring solutions to their demands.The farmers have been protesting peacefully for 6 months with no headway.
— Farah Khan (@FarahKhanAli) January 26, 2021
Pannu shared a screenshot of two news articles, one of which mentioned the police throwing tear gas shells at the farmers.
These 2 news items back to back on my timeline explains so much about the state of affairs in our country 🙂 #HappyRepublicDayIndia pic.twitter.com/0Hgm9hwgi3
— taapsee pannu (@taapsee) January 26, 2021
Actor Gul Panag tweeted, “It appears that the government has got what it wanted, from day one! It was waiting for an opportunity to show the entire protest in poor light, by design or default.”
It appears that the government has got what it wanted, from day one! It was waiting for an opportunity to show the entire protest in poor light, by design or default. Constant attempts at needling/provoking the protestors; undermining, subverting, debasing the protests. Sad.
— Gul Panag (@GulPanag) January 26, 2021
Music composer Vishal Dadlani, actor Ranvir Shorey also showed their support to the farmers on social media.
Does it make sense to you? Farmers who protested peacefully for so many months, even in the face of police violence, suddenly turned violent today? Why?
Just doesn’t compute.
A D V E R T I S E M E N TPlus, we’ve seen those in power do this before. Typical play: Send violent stooges, discredit movement.
— VISHAL DADLANI (@VishalDadlani) January 26, 2021
I would rather sit comfortably in my AC room then go around rioting and vandalising the capital on Republic Day over laws legislated by an elected govt. And if you don’t want tear gas, stick to the routes the police has designated for protests. Thanks. https://t.co/Ty57fcwKKx
— Kalpesh Patel (@RanvirShorey) January 26, 2021
Some celebrities, like Payal Ghosh, condemned the violence and wrote, “their whole motive is to downgrade India and to defame the country”
Who are they farmers? Look at the dates they choose to create chaos , as they know the whole world is watching us ,so their whole motive is to downgrade India and to defame the country ..!!#दिल्ली_पुलिस_लठ_बजाओ https://t.co/fidfFAFRfY
— Payal Ghosh ॐ (@iampayalghosh) January 26, 2021
Along with reactions to the protest, the hashtag #GodiMediaStopMisleading was trending on the micro-blogging website. Many people posted videos from the protest and spoke against the “misleading” videos posted by some news channels, as renowned journalists like Navika Kumar, Barkha Dutt, Shekar Gupta, and Rajdeep Sardesai were voicing their opinions regarding the protest.
In the videos, protestors said that the media was biased towards them and was attempting to show the protest as violent and disorganised.
