Govt shouldn't have put Lata, Sachin's reputation at stake: Raj

MNS chief Raj Thackeray onSaturday said the Union government should not have exposedSachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar to social media trollingby involving them in its campaign to counter tweets by foreigncelebrities in support of ongoing farmers' stir.

If American pop star Rihanna and others supporting theagitation against new agriculture laws was interference inIndia's internal matters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi'sslogan in support of Donald Trump too was problematic, hesaid.

Many celebrities including cricket icon Tendulkar andlegendary singer Mangeshkar rallied around the government onsocial media using hashtags #IndiaTogether and#IndiaAgainstPropaganda following tweets by Rihanna andclimate activist Greta Thunberg backing farmers.

''The Centre should not have asked Sachin Tendulkar andLata Mangeshkar to tweet in support of its stand and put theirreputation at stake. Now they have to face the wrath of socialmedia trolling,'' Raj Thackeray told reporters.

The government should have limited its use ofcelebrities in its campaign to actors such as Akshay Kumar, hesaid.

''They (Tendulkar and Mangeshkar) are true legends intheir fields, but otherwise very simple persons. They shouldnot have been asked to tweet with the same hashtag. Theytweeted what government asked them to tweet, and now they areat the receiving end,'' he said.

The MNS chief also wondered how many Indians knew whoRihanna was until she tweeted about agitating farmers' plight.

There was no need for the government to ask her to notget involved in the issue, Thackeray opined.

''By the same logic, there was no need to hold a rallyin the United States saying `Agali Baar, Trump Sarkar (nexttime, Trump government). It was that country's internalmatter,'' he said, referring to Modi's rally in Houston whenDonald Trump was US president.

Thackeray also said the laws against which farmers areagitating can have some flaws which can be rectified.

''If the government wishes to solve the issue, it cansit with farmers' leaders, hold talks and make necessarychanges in these laws,'' he said.

The MNS chief also said that the new laws must notbenefit only a handful of corporates.

''I think the laws have some plus points but the Centreneeds to discuss them again with state governments,'' he said.

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