Giving a morale boost to farmers, several Indian celebrities have been expressing their support and have joined them in protesting against the new farm laws enacted in the country.
Calling farmers "India's Food Soldiers", Quantico star Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who has always been vocal about human rights, shared a post by singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh and wrote, "Their fears need to be allayed. Their hopes need to be met".
Looking at the farmers protesting in cold weather for the past few weeks on Delhi's borders, singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh, who joined the protest a few days ago at the Singhu border in Delhi, quietly donated INR 10 million ($135,800) to arrange for warm clothes for them.
Today, legendary Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan was spotted with thousands of protesting farmers at the Singhu border.
Lending her support to the nation's farmers, Bollywood actress Richa Chadha in a tweet said, "India has been facing an agrarian crisis for the past two decades, 12,000 farmers commit suicide every year, that's over 30 per day! And yet, this is the biggest protest by people who put food on our plates".
She further commented, "Next time you shop for vegetables, don't wonder why the prices for vegetables are constantly rising. India is still an agrarian economy. It's not just a 'farmer’s issue'. Everything is connected".
Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor shared shocking visuals from the farmers' protest on Instagram with a famous quote by the late American lawyer Daniel Webster which read: "When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilisation".
Actor Sonu Sood, who earned massive public admiration for helping a huge number of migrants during the national lockdown, too tweeted in Hindi to convey: "We exist because farmers exist".
While Punjabi singer Mika Singh requested that farmers keep calm and protest, Harbhajan Mann created a new song talking about the plight of farmers.
Many other celebs such as Riteish Deshmukh, Hansal Mehta, Onir, Gauahar Khan, Taapsee Pannu, Swara Bhasker, Ammy Virk, Deep Sidhu, and Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub have been constantly tweeting on the issue.
Singer Gippy Grewal in his tweet criticised many big Bollywood actors for remaining silent on this burning issue.
Farmers, mainly from the agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana, are up in arms against new farm laws due to the exclusion of the state's minimum support price (MSP) mechanism. The farmers are demanding that the government repeal the laws, as they don't contain a provision for the MSP – the minimum price at which the state governments are obliged to procure produce from farmers.
India's key opposition party Congress and various other political parties also supported today's call by farm unions for a national shutdown against the Narendra Modi-led government.