As anger grew in India on Thursday against some Western personalities expressing support for farmers on Delhi’s borders protesting three new agricuture laws, a group called the United Hindu Front organised a demonstration in New Delhi at which pictures of the celebrities were burnt and slogans denouncing them were chanted.
Their targets were pop star Rihanna, teenaged climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg, American lawyer Meena Harris (the niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris) and former porn star Mia Khalifa.
Tweets by these personalities supporting the right to peaceful protest have set off an unprecendent storm of controversy, even eliciting a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday warning against the “temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments” about the new laws.
Shortly after, dozens of Indian sports people, actors and ruling party politicians took to Twitter to issue identikit messages aimed at countering the messages from Rihanna and the others.
The protest organised by the United Hindu Front was not large by Indian standards, but, as this video from the group’s Facebook page shows, the participants were enthusiastic.
They held up signs bearing the standard slogans chanted at Indian protests: “Singer Rihanna murdabad” (death to singer Rihanna), “No one is allowed to interfere in India’s internal affairs” and, curiously, “Miya Khalifa regains consciousness.”
Since she stopped performing in adult films, the Lebanon-born Khalifa has spoken out against the exploitative nature of the porn industry. She has warned women about its toxic nature.
Other signs declared, “Singer Rihanna regains consciousness” and “Greta Thunberg regains consciousness.”
It wasn’t clear how these supporters of democratic rights had become unconscious and or why their recovery was cause for agitation.
But Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of factchecking site AltNews, took to Twitter with a possible answer. The protestors had intended to deploy the Hindi slogan “hosh mein aao”, come to your senses, he suggested, but their use of the online service Google translate caused the confusion.
As he noted, they probably entered the Hindi slogan into the service in the Devnagri script and received an imperfect translation.
मियां खलीफ़ा होश में आओ। pic.twitter.com/yO7NOHLQVa
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) February 4, 2021
After seeing pictures of the protest, Khalifa took to Twitter, tongue firmly in cheek.
Confirming I have in fact regained consciousness, and would like to thank you for your concern, albeit unnecessary. Still standing with the farmers, though ♥️ pic.twitter.com/ttZnYeVLRP
— Mia K. (@miakhalifa) February 4, 2021