Probe not against Greta Thunberg but 'Toolkit' she tweeted, says Delhi Police

"Delhi Police has taken cognizance of a toolkit document found on a social media handle that predates and indicates a copycat execution of a conspiracy behind the January 26 violence. The call was to wage economic, social, cultural and regional war against India," Delhi Police Special Commissioner Praveer Ranjan said, referring to a Republic Day tractor rally that erupted into clashes in the capital.

"We have registered a case for spreading disaffection against the government of India - it's regarding sedition - and disharmony between groups on religious, social and cultural grounds, and criminal conspiracy to give shape to such a plan," the officer added.

Asked if Greta Thunberg's name features in the FIR, he clarified: "We have not named anybody in the FIR. It is only against the creators of the toolkit."

After the news broke that the Delhi Police named the 18-year-old teen climate activist in an FIR related to the ongoing farmers' protest in Delhi, Thunberg remained undeterred.

Reports said the police have filed the FIR accusing Thunberg of "promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language... and acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony."

Remaining firm on her stand, Thunberg tweeted, "I still stand with farmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hate, threats or violations of human rights will ever change that."

In support of the farmers' protest, which is going for over 70 days now, Thunberg, joining international pop star Rihanna, on Tuesday night tweeted, "We stand in solidarity with the farmers' protest in India."

Following the tweets, several former Indian cricketers and Hindi film industry personalities, who are massively popular among 1.3 billion Indians, favoured the resolution of the stalemate without any foreign interference.

Almost with the same Twitter hashtags, cricketers legends Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, current Indian captain Virat Kohli, Bollywood celebrities like Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn tweeted standing in solidarity with the country.

Prior to the series of tweets posted by the popular Indian personalities, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) called the "social media hashtags and comments" by celebrities "neither accurate nor responsible".

The farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, are camped at the Delhi borders since Nov 26, 2020, protesting against the agricultural reform which they fear would leave them at the mercy of big corporate houses.

Though more than 10 rounds of talks have already occured between the representatives of the government and protesters, the stalemate is still continuing as the farmers demand the repeal of the three new farm laws and a legal guarantee of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce.

The farmers' tractor rally turned violent on Jan 26 in the national capital claiming the life of at least one farmer and injury to more than 100 police personnel.