On Thursday (29th February), pop singer Rihanna arrived at Jamnagar in Gujarat to attend the wedding ceremony of Mukesh Ambani’s son Anant Ambani. According to reports, she will be paid Rs 74 crores for her performance at the pre-wedding celebrations titled ‘An evening in Everland’ starting on 1st March. Notably, Rihanna had supported Khalistani propaganda against Indian businessmen Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani during the anti-farm laws protest by farmers from Punjab in February 2021.
According to reports, Rihanna, known primarily for her touring performances rather than private engagements, is commanding an extraordinary fee for her appearance at the pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant. Arriving in Gujarat’s Jamnagar on 29th February, the singer was seen as she exited the airport accompanied by her team.
Reports suggest that Rihanna’s performance will be extensive, featuring a medley of her hits along with solo renditions such as ‘Diamonds’. Much of the expenses for her performance are said to have gone towards transporting her stage equipment and providing multiple outfit changes for both herself and her background singers.
On 2nd February 2021, Rihanna had attempted to peddle false propaganda against India by expressing her solidarity with a bunch of protestors, who had unleashed riots on the streets of Delhi. As songwriter Rihanna, along with former porn stars and irrelevant protestors endorsed violence in the name of supporting ‘farmer’ protests, several citizens of the country took to social media platforms to condemn the unnecessary interference of foreign individuals in the country’s internal affairs. Issuing a stern warning to the foreign celebrities, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) asked these foreign individuals and entities to ascertain facts and undertake a proper understanding of the farmers’ protest before rushing to comment on it.
why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest https://t.co/obmIlXhK9S
— Rihanna (@rihanna) February 2, 2021
Notably, the protesting farmers were opposing the farm laws brought in by the Modi government alleging that they do not benefit the farmers. The protestors further claimed that these laws only benefitted businessmen like Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani. By supporting these protestors, Rihanna was essentially opposing Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani. Now, she will be performing in the pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, and Radhika Merchant, daughter of industrialist Viren Merchant.
What were the farm laws?
One of the biggest factors plaguing the growth of the agriculture sector in the country is the inability of the farmer to find a market and to get a fair price for his produce. To address the issue, the erstwhile governments of different states enacted the Agricultural Produce Market Regulation Acts (APMC Acts), which authorized them to set up and regulate marketing practices in wholesale markets.
The objective of these markets was to ensure that farmers get a fair price for their produce. However, with each passing year, the APMCs turned out to be inefficient with increasing cartelisation of middlemen, ban on private players to enter the trade, increasing corruption etc.
The Modi government had introduced three bills to promote much easier trade for farm produce and to provide a competitive market for the producers outside the existing APMC system. The three laws were:
- The Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020: This law aims at creating additional trading opportunities outside the APMC market yards to help farmers get remunerative prices due to additional competition
- The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020: This law relates a framework for contract farming through an agreement between a farmer and a buyer prior to the production or rearing of any farm produce.
- The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020: This law aims to regulate the supply of certain food items only under extraordinary circumstances.
Mostly middlemen from Punjab posing as farmers in cohorts with Khalistani elements had launched a violent agitation forcing the government to take the farm laws back. These farm laws were meant to cut through the middlemen and benefit the farmers, however, these middlemen claimed that it would benefit industrialists like Adani and Ambani, and therefore, the laws should be repealed.
Who was behind Rihanna’s tweet
It was suspected that Canadian top politician Jagmeet Singh, who is notoriously known for supporting Khalistan separatism, could be behind Rihanna’s anti-Indian propaganda. Hours after Rihanna posted a tweet intervening in India’s affairs, controversial Canadian lawmaker Jagmeet Singh took to Twitter to hail Rihanna for consistently ‘uplifting and empowering the voices of the oppressed’.
Jagmeet Singh, who is accused of terror funding and under the radar of Indian Intelligence agencies for sheltering pro-Khalistani sympathisers, shares a good relationship with songwriter Rihanna and had once openly bragged about it on a TV show. Now, after supporting Khalistani propaganda against Ambani, Adani in 2021, Rihanna is all set to perform in Anant Ambani’s pre-wedding festivities alongside renowned Indian musicians including Arijit Singh, Ajay-Atul, and Diljit Dosanjh.
Expected to join in the celebrations are a host of distinguished business leaders, including Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick, Disney CEO Bob Iger, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Adnoc CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, and EL Rothschild chair Lynn Forester de Rothschild.
Among the esteemed guests are Yasir Al Rumayyan, Chairperson of Saudi Aramco; Vivi Nevo, Founder of NV Investments; Nitin Nohria, Former Dean of Harvard Business School; Dr. Brian Levine, Founding Partner of CCRM New York; Kenichiro Yoshida, CEO of Sony; Joe Bae, CEO of KKR & Co.; Mark Carney, Chairman of Brookfield Asset Management; Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO & MD of Mubadala; Mark Tucker, Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings Plc; Anuj Ranjan, Managing Partner of Brookfield; Bill Ford, Chairman & CEO of General Atlantic; Carlos Slim, Investor; Jay Lee, Executive Chairman of Samsung Electronics; Howard Marks, Co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management; James Dinan, Founder of York Capital Management; and Richard Hilton, Chairman of Hilton & Hyland.
Guests can expect to immerse themselves in India’s vibrant culture and heritage during the festivities. They will also receive traditional scarves crafted by women artisans from Kachchh and Lalpur in Gujarat.
