Hollywood pop-star Rihanna's one tweet in favor of farmers created shooked India terribly. Following Rihanna's tweet, international celebrities like Greta Thunberg, Amanda Cerny, and others extended their support to the agitating farmers and slammed the Modi government on a global level. In response, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) released its official statement and said, "Temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible."
This started a social media campaign #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda, in which most of the Indian celebrities participated and appealed to the people of India to not pay attention to the external forces and remain in unity. However, many slammed the Bollywood and cricket fraternity and accused the BJP of pressurizing them to speak in their favor.
Now, a report of a web-portal The Print has made a sensational revelation. Going by the reports of the news website, Rihanna was allegedly paid $2.5 million (Rs 18 crore) by a Public Relations firm with alleged Khalistani links.
Reports state that PJF played a “vital role” in “starting a global campaign”, with backing from "political leaders and activists based out of Canada." The report revealed that 'Skyrocket', a PR firm where Khalistani Mo Dhaliwal is a director, paid $2.5 million to pop star Rihanna to tweet in favor of the farmer protests. In Indian currency, that is well over Rs.18 crores.
In fact, the report also stated that Greta's toolkit was also prepared by the same organization. Mo Dhaliwal, Marina Patterson, who worked as a relationship manager in PR firms, Anita Lal, director of World Sikh Organisation in Canada, and Canadian MP Jagmeet Singh. Anita Lal is also a co-founder of the Poetic Justice Foundation, an organization that features prominently in the toolkit shared by Greta Thunberg.
Interestingly, the report is revealed by none other media organization than 'The Print' which criticizes the Modi Government on a larger scale. Now it will be interesting to see how Rihanna, the Delhi Police, and the people of India react.