Fawad Chaudhry praises Rihanna for speaking up about India's farmer protests

• Rihanna earlier tweeted asking why the world isn't talking enough about the ongoing injustice with farmers in India
  
• Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry praised her, saying she has earned the respect of farmers across the world
  
• Protests in India against the new farmer laws have escalated in the last few months

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry commended pop icon Rihanna for speaking up about the protest of farmers in India which have escalated in the last few months.

Rihanna had tweeted asking why the world isn't talking enough about the ongoing injustice with farmers in India. "Why aren’t we talking about this?!” tweeted the singer as she shared a CNN article regarding the protests.

Retweeting Rihanna's post, Chaudhry praised the icon for her stance, saying that she has earned the respect of farmers across the world.

Read more: Rihanna shows solidarity with farmers protesting in India

"You have earned the respect of every Farmer of the world and particularly of #Punjabis all around the world you have shown your heart is in the right place.... loads if respect," the federal minister said on the micro-blogging site.

Why are farmers protesting in India?

The farmers want the government to withdraw three new farms - introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in September - that they say will hurt their livelihoods and benefit large private produce buyers.

The government says the reforms will open up new opportunities for farmers and it has invited farmer leaders for fresh talks to end the deadlock.

Although Modi remains India’s most popular politician, his standing in the rural areas, where most Indians live, could be damaged by his handling of the farmers’ two-month-old agitation.