BJP's Manoj Tiwari sends Rihanna a Republic Day riot version of her song; seeks her input

International pop star Rihanna on Tuesday became extended her support to the ongoing farmers' agitation while criticising the internet shutdown at the protest site. The 32-year-old singer, who has over 100 million followers on Twitter, took to the microblogging site and shared a CNN news article headlined, "India cuts internet around New Delhi as protesting farmers clash with police."

'Where have you been Rihanna?'

"Why aren't we talking about this? #FarmersProtest," Rihanna wrote.

Responding to her, BJP MP and Bhojpuri actor/singer Manoj Tiwari shared a video showing violence on Republic Day in the national capital. In the video, visuals of police personnel getting assaulted by the protesters are seen and Rihanna's song 'Where have you been' has been used for the background score. "Where have you been Rihanna? ...we really need to talk about this #Rihanna" the BJP MP wrote.

Former Indian cricketer Pragyan Ojha also slammed the pop star saying that "we don't need an outsider poking her nose in our internal matters!" He said that India is proud of its farmers and knows how important they are. "I trust it will be addressed soon," he wrote on Twitter.

Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at several Delhi border points since November last year, demanding the government to repeal the three farm laws and legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

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Meanwhile, Farmer Unions on Monday announced a countrywide 'chakka jam' on February 6 when they would block national and state highways for three hours in protest against the internet ban in areas near their agitation sites, harassment allegedly meted out to them by authorities and other issues.

Sites of the farmer protest at Delhi's borders have turned into fortresses with the police beefing up security and putting up multi-layer barricades to stop the movement of vehicles. Barbed wire has also been put up to keep off people on foot. The strengthened security measures at the agitation sites across the Delhi borders come after the violence during the Republic day tractor parade by protesting farmers in which 394 security personnel were injured. 

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(with PTI inputs)