Women athletes criticised for posting identical tweets thanking PM Modi

India's top female sportspersons, including ace shuttler P.V. Sindhu and world champion boxer M.C. Mary Kom, were criticised by netizens for posting identical tweets praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharat Laxmi initiative.

Along with Sindhu and Kom, shuttler Saina Nehwal, boxers Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain, shooter Anjum Moudgil, wrestler Pooja Dhanda and paddler Manika Batra all took to Twitter to post the same message.

"I thank @narendramodi sir for his initiative to honour and empower women this Diwali. Acknowledgement motivates us to work harder and make India proud. #bharatkilaxmi," all of them tweeted on Diwali eve.

Last month, Modi had urged people to launch a campaign to honour daughters who have made a mark with their achievements in various fields for public good.

The campaign #BharatkiLaxmi was launched on October 22 with a video featuring Sindhu and film star Deepika Padukone. The video was shared by Sindhu saying, “I support PM @narendramodi ji #BharatKiLaxmi movement.” It was retweeted by Modi.

Four days later came the identical tweets from the leading sportswomen, along with other tweets on the hashtag by several Union ministers and BJP supporters.

Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, on October 25, tweeted a video with a collage of prominent female athletes, urging people to celebrate womanhood this Diwali.

However, not all were impressed, calling it a 'coordinated' campaign by the Union government using top women athletes. Other users urged the athletes to air their own views rather than posting a prepared text.

Wrestler Dhanda, in fact, forgot to remove the “Text” before the congratulatory message, leading to speculations that the athletes were sent a prepared text and asked to tweet it from their accounts by the PMO.

(With PTI inputs)