Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir voiced their opinions on the ongoing farmers protest in India on Wednesday and said that “external forces can be spectators”.

Their comments came after the Ministry of External Affairs reacted sharply to comments by international pop star Rihanna, teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and others on farmers’ protests.

Rihanna, who has 100 million followers on Twitter, on Tuesday tweeted, “why aren’t we talking about this?!”, linking a CNN report on the internet shutdown near the protest site.

Tendulkar, who is the highest run-scorer in all formats of cricket, rallied for the nation to remain united in times of distress.

“India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants. Indians know India and should decide for India. Let’s remain united as a nation,” wrote Tendulkar on Twitter.

India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants.
Indians know India and should decide for India. Let’s remain united as a nation.#IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) February 3, 2021

Gambhir, who has been a member of Lok Sabha since 2019, said India will continue to thrive no matter what.

“Outside forces have been trying to divide us, rule over us for centuries. But India remains & will thrive come what may! Use your billions, try your best! This is the New India,” he posted.

Outside forces have been trying to divide us, rule over us for centuries. But India remains & will thrive come what may! Use your billions, try your best! This is the New India ????????#IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropoganda

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) February 3, 2021

Pragyan Ojha, the former India spinner, too voiced his opinion in reply to Rihanna’s tweet.

“My country is proud of our farmers and knows how important they are. I trust it will be addressed soon. We don’t need an outside poking her nose in our internal matters,” he wrote.

My country is proud of our farmers and knows how important they are, I trust it will be addressed soon. We don’t need an outsider poking her nose in our internal matters!

— Pragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha) February 2, 2021

Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at several Delhi border points since November last year, demanding the government to repeal the three farm laws and legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

Sites of the farmer protest at Delhi’s borders have turned into fortresses with the police beefing up security and putting up multi-layer barricades to stop the movement of vehicles.