Pressure mounts on Sachin Tendulkar to tweet in favour of farmers after farmer's son from Solapur turns up at cricket superstar's Bandra residence
A couple of days after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar advised Sachin Tendulkar to be more careful while speaking on "issues related to other fields," Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Preeti Sharma Menon has written a letter to cricket icon, asking for a tweet in favour of the protesting farmers. (More Cricket News)
AAP's request came after a young man reportedly protested outside the former India captain's residence in Mumbai on Monday. Menon said the man, Ranjeet Bagal, came all the way from Pandharpur in Solapur district, around 400km from Mumbai, to request Tendulkar to put out at least one tweet in support of the farmers protesting against the Centre's new agriculture laws near Delhi for more than two months now.
"You are India's pride. This nation of 1.3 billion people has prayed for you, wept for you and rejoiced in your success. In this country where Cricket is a religion, you are God for us. I am certain, as our Bharat Ratna and a Member Of Parliament your heart must want to bat for all multitudinous hued people of this country who have worshipped you," Menon wrote in the letter.
"So I, a humble citizen, request you to heed the appeal of Ranjeet Bagel, a farmers son, who travelled all the way from Solapur to your door. He came from Pandharpur, the "DevNagri" where all us Maharashtrians go for a pilgrimage, on a pilgrimage to Bandra, Mumbai where his God Sachin Tendulkar resides with a simple prayer - a tweet in support of our 'Anndaatas", the farmers who are protesting against the Farm Laws that will rob them ff their livelihood," the letter continued.
In a photo shared by the AAP, Bagal can be seen holding in his hands a poster which questions Tendulkar when he will tweet in support of farmers. The poster also bears the name of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, a farmer organisation led by former MP Raju Shetti.
The message in Marathi read: "Sachin amchya shetkari bapasathi kadhi tweet karshil (Sachin when will you tweet for our farmer father?"
Menon has endorsed Bagal's request and has written an open letter to Tendulkar, imploring him to tweet in favour of our farmers who are protesting, a statement from the AAP said.
Several celebrities, including Tendulkar, and legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, recently rallied around the central government on social media using hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda following tweets by American pop singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg who had backed the agitating farmers.
In his tweet, Tendulkar wrote that "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. #IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda."
Pawar on Saturday said Tendulkar should be more careful while speaking on farmers' issues.
"I would suggest to Sachin (Tendulkar) that he should be careful while speaking on the issues related to other fields," Pawar said. "These agitators are farmers who feed our country. Therefore, it is not right to call them Khalistanis or terrorists."