Reacting to the hate and trolling directed at her from government-supporting Indians, ex-adult movie star Mia Khalifa has reiterated her firm support for Indian farmers who have been protesting around Delhi since late November 2020 against new agricultural laws.
In a tweet, Khalifa shared two pictures of saffron scarf-donning men standing with pictures of herself, Rihanna, and Greta Thunberg with captions asking them to stop commenting on India's personal matters.
The tweet by the 27-year-old former porn star went viral on social media in India, garnering over 43,000 likes and 10,000 re-tweets.
In the comments section to Khalifa's post, farmer-supporting Indians posted pictures of the aforementioned men burning a headshot poster of 18-year-old Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg to highlight the amount of outrage these international public figures have sparked in India.
On 4 February, India's Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement slamming foreign individuals and entities, including Khalifa, for their comments on the ongoing farmer protests without knowing the "entire truth" that caused social media outrage in the nation.
Several Bollywood stars and Indian athletes like Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, Virat Kohli, and Sachin Tendulkar sided with the government and requested foreign nationals to refrain from commenting on the sensitive protests that recently took a violent turn in Delhi.
Thousands of farmers from India's agricultural states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra have surrounded the capital since late November 2020.
The farmers fear that with new laws passed during the monsoon session of the parliament in September, the government is backing out from its role as a price guarantor for their produce while leaving their earnings to be influenced by market forces. The government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi however, has dismissed these concerns, calling the laws "progressive", while the country's president, Ram Nath Kovind, said that the reforms will be beneficial for farmers.