Celebrities change their Twitter display pictures in show of gratitude to Maharashtra police

As the city that never sleeps experienced a calm like never before, the Mumbai Police has risked their own lives to ensure that the nationwide lockdown is implemented and followed. While the number of COVID-19 cases continues to surge, the state police force has remained hopeful and assisted those in need.

On that note, Maharashtra’s Home Minister

Anil Deshmukh

triggered a movement on twitter, urging users to change their profile pictures to the

Maharashtra Police

logo. He tweeted, “Maharashtra Police has stood by citizens thro’ calamities, attacks & disasters. Today as they lead the war on Corona on the streets, I’ve decided to celebrate them by changing my DP on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc to the Maharashtra Police logo. Join me in this endeavour (sic).”

Politicians, sports personalities and Bollywood celebrities followed suit. From cricketers like

Virat Kohli

and

Dhawal Kulkarni

to a host of celebrities such as

Shah Rukh Khan

, Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Dia Mirza, and

Akshay Kumar

among many, their display pictures embraced a dash of navy blue.

Virat Kohli wrote, “Maharashtra Police has stood by citizens through calamities, attacks & disasters. Today as they lead the war against Corona on the streets, I’ve decided to celebrate them by changing my DP here on Twitter to the Maharashtra Police logo. Join me in this endeavour.”

Ajay Devgn,

Arjun Kapoor

, Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh also joined the initiative. Akshay Kumar wrote, “I salute @MumbaiPolice headconstables Chandrakant Pendurkar & Sandip Surve, who laid their lives fighting Corona. I have done my duty, I hope you will too. Let’s not forget we are safe and alive because of them.”

Close to 900 police personnel across the state have contracted coronavirus. The state police force has also lost as many as seven personnel to COVID-19, including four from Mumbai police.