RJD leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, has lashed out at Indian celebrities for their silence on the unprecedented pandemic wreaking havoc across India. Calling them ‘coward,’ Tejashwi urged Indian celebrities to show ‘some spine’ particularly when scores died every day. His attack against celebrities coincided with Shah Rukh Khan facing flak for tweet flaunting the new brand deal for his IPL team, Kolkata Knight Riders.
“Dear coward Indian Celebrities, Show some spine!S peak up! You compatriots are dying every second for as basic a thing as oxygen supply due to misplaced priorities of your demigods. Where is your conscience? Where is ur sold soul & heart? Be loyal to the country,not the regime!”
When global citizens criticised insensitive Govt on farmers agitation, on Govt behest they displayed paid & fake outrage in the name of Internal Matter.
Where’s their selective outrage now?
Indians are dying everywhere, every moment but these hollow IDOLS are least bothered.
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) April 24, 2021
Tejashwi wrote in his subsequent tweet, “When global citizens criticised insensitive Govt on farmers agitation, on Govt behest they displayed paid & fake outrage in the name of Internal Matter. Where’s their selective outrage now? Indians are dying everywhere, every moment but these hollow IDOLS are least bothered.”
The RJD leader was referring to identical tweets shared by several Indian actors, cricketers and sportspersons to counter international icons such as Rihanna and Greta Thunberg when they raised their voices in support of protesting farmers in India. Celebrities such as Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Virat Kohli and Saina Nehwal had wasted no time in parroting the government line to counter Rihanna and others by posting near-identical tweets.
Elsewhere, Shah Rukh Khan faced condenation for flaunting his sponsorship deal that his IPL team, Kolkata Knight Riders had struck with the gaming app, the MPL. Shah Rukh had tweeted, “It brings me great joy to welcome MPL as KKR’s principal sponsor! It’s been great to see you grow alongside the
@KKRiders. Ab akal lagane ki baari meri hain, let me check out these new games you have on your app.”
This prompted many to target the Bollywood actor, calling him insensitive particularly when Delhi, his home city, had become one of the worst-hit places by the latest pandemic.
This is the Modi effect: he has terrorised Bollywood so much that even to commiserate with the tens of thousands dying of COVID is seen as a criticism of government. Instead, from India’s biggest star, we have a tweet about cricket. Not all who wear capes are heroes. https://t.co/jCfxEhQoUR
— Aatish Taseer (@AatishTaseer) April 24, 2021
One of India’s top celebrities has this to tweet while so many are suffering due to lack of oxygen and hospitals. Buy a spine! https://t.co/FAqE2HU17P
— Fahad Shah (@pzfahad) April 24, 2021
This tweet of yours is callously untimely. Delhi, the city of your birth is suffering in a manner it has not suffered since partition violence, though we did have a short shameful 1984. It was easily avoidable, may be your PR team needs to be more humane. https://t.co/zJGqHmmQd1
— S lrfan Habib (@irfhabib) April 24, 2021
Scores have been dying every day in Delhi after many hospitals in India’s national ran out of oxygen. At least 25 patients died on Saturday in one hospital in Rohini due to the inadequate supply of oxygen.
Indians are incensed by the fact that cricketers have been busy playing IPL matches but have chosen to ignore the plight of hundreds of thousands of Indians, who are affected by the pandemic. Former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was called ‘spinelss’ on his birthday on Saturday.