Hyderabad: It seems that the Indian right-wing, especially those affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is not yet ready to let go of the fact that global pop icon Rihanna tweeted in support of Indian farmers.
The RSS-affiliated Legal Rights Observatory (LRO) has filed a complaint with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), asking the body to check whether US Pop Star Rihanna’s cosmetic product company, Fenty, has a “Supply Chain Clearance Certification” for procuring the mineral MICA from the state of Jharkhand.
In its complaint, LRO’s Vinay Joshi has alleged that Fenty procures “blood MICA”, wherein the word blood is used for natural resources that are extracted at the cost of human lives or child labour. Joshi in his complaint wrote that as per “reports” (link provided of an article from Sify news) Fenty uses “blood MICA” from Jharkhand’s Kodarma, Giridh and Navada.
“To ascertain that MICA is free of child labourers, there are certification agencies. But media reports say that Fenty Beauty don’t have supply Chain Clearance Certification – SCCC from either of the two,” said Joshi’s complaint. It further asked the NCPCR to look into the issue, and asked it to “start appropriate penal action against the company and its owners”.
Pop star Rihanna set Twitter on fire a few days ago after she tweeted in favour of Indian farmers. Her tweet drew the ire of the entire right-wing ecosystem. Soon, it was followed by a whole bunch of celebrities, including cricketers and celebrities (like Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar) from tweeting in support of the recent farm laws, against which Indian farmers are protesting.
The tweets from various celebrities was very clearly coordinated and orchestrated to counter Rihanna, as they all more or less tweeted the same thing, with the same hashtag.