Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J P Nadda took a swipe at the Maharashtra government on Monday, saying it has a unique model of governance that hails "noises of anarchy" from overseas but "harasses" patriotic Indians who stand for the nation. His tweet against the Maha Vikas Aghadi came after Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the state intelligence department will conduct a probe into allegations that some celebrities were pressured recently to issue tweets in connection with the ongoing farmers' protest.
READ | Maharashtra to probe celebrities tweets over farmers' protest following Congress' allegations
"MVA in Maharashtra has a unique model of governance - hail noises of anarchy from overseas who show India in poor light but harass patriotic Indians who stand for the nation. It is difficult to decide what is more flawed: their priorities or their mindset?" Nadda said in his reaction.
MVA in Maharashtra has a unique model of governance - hail noises of anarchy from overseas who show India in poor light but harass patriotic Indians who stand for the nation. It is difficult to decide what is more flawed: their priorities or their mindset?
— Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) February 8, 2021
Deshmukh made the remarks on an online platform after the Congress, a ruling coalition partner in Maharashtra, sought an investigation into the BJP's alleged connection with tweets of some celebrities and whether the saffron party "arm-twisted" them.
READ | Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra is result of lust for power: Amit Shah
The announcement comes days after several famous faces including cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, singer Lata Mangeshkar and Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn tweeted on the farmers' protests using social media hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda.
Their tweets followed American pop star Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg's comments backing farmers' protests against Centre's three new farm laws.
Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant and some other party leaders on Monday raised the demand before Deshmukh in a meeting via video conference. Responding to the demand, Deshmukh said the objection of the Congress leaders is in connection with the timing of the tweets and whether they were issued under pressure.
The Maharashtra Home Minister noted that the tweets issued by badminton player Saina Nehwal and Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar were similar. "The Congress' question is whether they (celebrities) were forced to issue tweets of the same kind simultaneously," the minister said.
He added, "You may have seen what kind of pressure is there on the media, how a politician is threatened with ED or CBI probe if he/she speaks against the BJP. We have all seen this." "As far as your objection (about celebrities' tweets) is concerned, we will definitely probe into those. Our intelligence agency will probe it," Deshmukh said.
Following the virtual meeting with Deshmukh, Sawant said, "Demanded investigation of BJP connection into the tweets of celebrities and security to be provided to our national heroes if needed and find out whether these celebrities were arm-twisted by BJP."
This is to be noted that thousands of farmers have camped at Delhi's borders and are protesting since late November 2020 against the three newly enacted farm laws namely Farmers` Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
On February 7, Union Home Minister Amit Shah hit out at the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra and said that it is a result of the lust for power. Shah had said that the MVA government in Maharashtra (comprising Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress) is like an auto-rickshaw whose three wheels were pulling in different directions.
The Union Home Minister stated that ahead of the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not promise Shiv Sena - then its alliance partner - to share the chief minister's post. He said, "I don't make promises in closed rooms. Whatever I do, I do it openly. I don't do politics in closed rooms."
Amit Shah was speaking after inaugurating a private medical college at Kankavli in Sindhudurg district. "This (MVA) is an unholy alliance and an outcome of betraying the people's mandate which was for a BJP-Shiv Sena government led by (BJP's) Devendra Fadnavis," Shah had said.
This is to be noted that the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena parted ways with the BJP after the 2019 Assembly polls over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post with the saffron party. Subsequently, Shiv Sena formed the government after joining hands with NCP and Congress.
Thackeray had claimed that Amit Shah (the then BJP president), had assured at his Mumbai's 'Matoshree' bungalow that the CM's post would be shared by Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena, and the BJP reneged on the promise. "It is being claimed that the BJP broke the promise," Shah said, adding his party honours the promises it makes. "We don't speak white lies. We are the ones who honour commitments. In Bihar, we had said that even if the BJP gets more seats, Nitish Kumar will continue to be the CM," Shah stated.
Shah slammed Uddhav Thackeray and said that the Shiv Sena leader addressed poll rallies with him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the Maharashtra Assembly polls. He said, "In the poll posters of Shiv Sena candidates, Modi's pictures were bigger than Thackeray's." "We sought votes for the BJP-Sena alliance led by Fadnavis. Why didn't you speak out then? You just garnered votes in Modi's name," Shah added.
