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With the Rihanna Navy becoming more and more hungry for new music from their idol, the Bajan songstress has instead found herself surprisingly caught in a political firestorm in India.

Huh?

Yes, believe it or not, thid might just have been the week the artiste, who oozes sex appeal through her music, image and fashion empire, stepped into the realm of serious political activist – whether or not that was her plan.

With a single tweet to her 101 million followers on Twitter, Rihanna drew the ire of the Indian government as well as support from activists and celebrities when she highlighted protests by farmers against agricultural reform in that nation.

The farmers, tens of thousands of whom have been camped on the outskirts of Delhi since late 2020, are demanding the repeal of three new farm laws they say will hurt them to the benefit of large corporations.

Their generally peaceful protest was marred by violence last week, when some demonstrators drove a procession of tractors into the heart of the capital and clashed with police.

Police have since erected barricades around three main protest sites and shut off the internet in some areas.

The farmers’ leaders, speaking hours after Rihanna weighed into the row, said they would not back down.

In her tweet, the Savage X Fenty lingerie mogul shared a CNN article on the farmers’ protests with the caption “why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest”.

Rihanna’s tweet spurred a flood of reactions from the likes of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, talk show host and actor Lilly Singh, singer Jay Sean, vlogger Amanda Cerny and several others, all of whom expressed their support for India’s farmers.

“We ALL should be outraged by India’s internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters,” U.S. lawyer and activist Meena Harris, a niece of Vice-President Kamala Harris, said on Twitter.

Sharing the same news report as Rihanna, Thunberg tweeted: “We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India.”

But on the flip side, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reacted by criticising foreign individuals and entities for jumping into the fray, saying their comments were “neither accurate nor responsible”.

In a detailed statement the MEA said it was “unfortunate to see vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda on these protests, and derail them”.

The foreign ministry also argued that the Indian Parliament had passed the reformist legislation only after a “full debate and discussion”.

In defending the three controversial laws, the MEA said the reforms were intended to give expanded market access and provide greater flexibility to farmers.

“They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming,” the MEA statement read.

The ministry said “a very small section of farmers” had issues with the new laws and some groups had tried to mobilise international support against India.

“Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken,” the MEA said.

Up to yesterday there had been no further comment from Rihanna.