Will probe BJP IT cell not Sachin or Lata: Maha govt makes U-turn on celebrity tweets inquiry
Maharashtra government had on February 8 had ordered probe into tweets by celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, singer Lata Mangeshkar, cricketer Virat Kohli.
New Delhi: Giving a fresh twist to investigation into celebrity tweets row, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday said that the state government is not probing Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar, rather the probe will be centred on BJP IT cell.
“Lata Mangeshkar is like God to us, Sachin is held in high regard by the whole country, the inquiry was never against them, it was against the BJP IT cell,” he said.
“I had said that we will be probing the IT cell of the BJP. But my comments were misconstrued as probe into celebrity tweets. Lata Mangeshkar is like our God, Sachin Tendulkar is idolised by everyone in the country. We want to probe the IT cell of the BJP, and if they had handed over any script. And preliminary inquiry points towards the head of BJP IT cell and 12 influencers,” Deshmukh told media.
How Celebrity tweets row originated
Maharashtra government had on February 8 had ordered probe into tweets by celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, singer Lata Mangeshkar, cricketer Virat Kohli.
The reason it gave that it wanted to probe whether the celebrities were under any pressure to tweet against ‘what they called conspiracy by foreign celebrities’ to malign India’s image.
“India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants. Indians know India and should decide for India. Let’s remain united as a nation,” Tendulkar had said in a tweet.
The tweet war had begun after Rihanna and Greta Thunberg’s tweet supporting farmers protest in the country and spoke against their alleged oppression under ‘black farm laws’.