Singer Rihanna.

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Image Press Agency / Sipa USA / SIPA

Anger in India after an image of pop icon Rihanna was released, posing topless for a lingerie ad, in purple shorts with a pendant of Ganesh, India's most popular deity.

when @PopcaanMusic said “me nuh wan ya wear no lingerie tonight fa me girl” @SavageXFenty pic.twitter.com/bnrtCZT7FB

- Rihanna (@rihanna) February 15, 2021

The new storm of the powerful influencer on social networks, with 100 million subscribers on Twitter and 91.4 million on Instagram, comes a few weeks after drawing a strong reaction from the authorities for having defended the farmers who demonstrate against agricultural reforms in the country.

Tense relations with the Indian government

"It's scandalous how @ Rihanna shamefully mocks our beloved God #Ganesh," tweeted Ram Kadam, a parliamentarian and member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist party.

"It shows how she has no respect for Indian culture and traditions."

The Hindu World Council (Vishva Hindu Parishad, VHP), a group attached to the ruling Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janata (BJP), claimed to have filed complaints to get Twitter and Facebook to remove the image and take action against the accounts by Rihanna.

The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had criticized Rihanna, among other international celebrities, in early February for interfering in a "sensationalist" way in the dossier of agricultural reforms in the country, after tweets from Rihanna and Greta Thunberg on the protests of 'farmers gone viral.

"Why don't we talk about this?

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#FarmersProtest, ”the pop star wrote, sharing a CNN report covering internet shutdowns in Delhi during farmer protests last week.

His message was immediately retweeted more than 230,000 times and commented on by nearly 80,000 people.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, one of the most important environmental activists in the world, also retweeted, as did the niece of Indian-born American Vice President Kamala Harris, Meena Harris.

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