Jalandhar: A day before the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) Non-Political and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM)’s ‘Delhi Chalo’ call, the Union government on Tuesday (March 4) night withheld around 100 X (formerly Twitter) accounts belonging to farmer union leaders and people promoting the farmers’ cause.
At the Shambhu, Khanauri and Dabwali borders between Punjab and Haryana, farmer unions under the leadership of Jagjeet Singh Dallewal from the SKM Non-Political and Sarvan Singh Pandher of the KMM have been protesting against the Modi government demanding legally guaranteed minimum support prices (MSP), justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri case and the waiving of farmers’ loans for over 20 days now.
It is for the third time that the Union government has withheld social media accounts ever since the protest started on February 13.
Earlier too, the government had withheld over a dozen social media accounts belonging to farmer union leaders as well as the official pages of farmer unions and their supporters a day before the Delhi Chalo call on the night of February 12.
Similarly, many social media accounts, particularly those on X, Facebook and Instagram, were again withheld in the wake of Delhi Chalo call on February 21.
Farmer union leaders termed it as a ‘modus operandi’ of the Modi government, where social media accounts were being repeatedly withheld in bulk whenever they gave a call to move to Delhi.
Speaking to The Wire, farmer union leader Gurpreet Sangha said that overnight, around 100 social media accounts belonging to farmers, farmer union leaders and people supporting the protest were withheld in India on March 4, exactly a day before the Delhi Chalo call for March 6.
“Till date, the government has withheld my three X accounts, which I made after each one of them was blocked in India. We have decided to approach the Supreme Court in this case. Our legal team was working on it”, he said.
Sangha said that the government does not want their voice to reach the masses.
“The [Union] government’s message is clear: that they will not even let the farmers speak, leave alone the debate of right or wrong. Basically, the government fears the farmers’ protest that is why they were banning social media accounts,” he added.
“Even killing its own people should be the last resort of any regime, but either in panic or in despair, the government has misacted big time.”
On the March 6 Delhi Chalo call, Sangha said that whether it is 100 farmers or 10,000, they will simply reach Jantar Mantar in Delhi and sit there in protest.
“It is a purely organic announcement, where farmers from the rest of the country other than Punjab and Haryana would lead the protest,” he said.
Many farmers said that this time, the government was also targeting those accounts which were promoting the farmers’ cause since the 2021-21 farmers’ protest.
Among them was Sheena Sawhney, a dentist and US citizen, who said she has been involved with farmers’ issues since the 2020-21 protests.
“We led a huge group of people in the US and campaigned against the farm laws. I remained in touch with all the SKM leaders like Rakesh Tikait, Balbir Singh Rajewal and others to mobilise people but nobody blocked my Twitter account then,” she said.
“Now, when the farmers’ protest has just started, the government withheld my X account, which basically hints at moles within the farmers’ groups who were sharing our information with the government”, she said.
Sawhney said that when the Indian government started withholding social media accounts this time, she thought she would be safe owing to her US citizenship.
“I am not rattled by the government’s action. Even if the government did not retrieve my X account, I would make a new account and continue to raise [my] voice for farmers. I was trolled and labelled as a ‘Khalistani’ for supporting farmers but the government never took any action against the trolls and it hurts. I spoke for farmers earlier; I will speak even now”, she said.
The US-based dentist said that with the Lok Sabha elections just around the corner, the government does not want any protest at this stage. But supporters of the farmers’ cause will write letters to senators, council members and higher authorities in the US to gain momentum for the farmers’ protest, she said.
“We will reach out to people in the US, UK, Canada, Australia. Interestingly, the BJP and RSS people who supported George Floyd’s protest in the US were questioning the farmers’ protest and the tragic killing Shubhkaran Singh”, she said.
Gurshamshir Singh, a lawyer-turned-independent journalist from Patiala whose X account was withheld for the first time, also said that the government does not want any information about the farmers’ protest to reach the masses.
“The Delhi Chalo call of March 6 is the biggest reason why so many social media accounts were blocked in India. It has almost become a modus operandi of the government to block social media accounts whenever they see a potential of mass mobilisation,” he said.
“The government knows that nobody is going to hold them accountable for this action, hence such emboldened actions. It is also an attempt to create a fear psychosis among people related to the farmers’ protest in the country. It is sad that the country was heading towards an authoritarian regime and in case you are from Punjab, you are more prone than others.”
Among others, Samita Kaur, an independent researcher from Chandigarh working for farmers and who was also running a campaign titled ‘We support our farmers’, said that accounts belonging to Sawhney and to the KMM were also withheld.
“We have been simply sharing news of the farmers’ protest. This time, the government was also targeting those accounts who were using the hashtags of farmers’ protest. We had just shared an article of the Human Rights Watch on the KMM page, after which our account was withheld”, she said.
Samita Kaur, who spearheaded the ‘No farmer, No food’ campaign along with her peers in Chandigarh, expressed concern over the fact that farming was going to the corporations.
“The corporations want to control and change the eating habits of the people. They want to decide what we are going to eat, hence the fight between the farmers and the corporates/government”, she said.
In February, the government had withheld the X account of independent journalist Mandeep Punia and that of his web portal Goan Savera. Punia was was exclusively covering the farmers’ protest from the Shambu and Khanuari border areas.
Later, his Delhi-based colleague Garvit Garg started posting news and updates about the protest through his personal X account. On the night of March 4, Garg’s account was also withheld.
Speaking to The Wire, Garg said that the government has blocked all channels of information dissemination.
“It is not just an attack on freedom of expression but a professional loss for us. Independent journalists work very hard to gather factual news and sustain their work. We are being continuously targeted by the government. Earlier the government had withheld the official page of Goan Savera and that of its editor, Mandeep Punia. This time, they targeted me”, he said.
Garvit said that the government’s attempt was to muzzle every voice on the ground.
“There is a total blackout of farmers’ protests news everywhere. See, we could not even share the information of the Delhi Chalo call of March 6 on social media. It is a dangerous precedent, even those working with bigger media houses will also be attacked. Right now, we do not even see any way of fighting back”, he said.
Meanwhile, the legal team of the KMM, led by its coordinator, advocate Akhil Chaudhary from the Rajasthan high court, and Anjali Sheoran from the Punjab and Haryana high court, said in a statement that some social media accounts were blocked on the instructions of the Union government.
“We see this as a violation of our freedom of expression and plan to challenge it in the Supreme Court. We have urged all affected individuals to join our petition and contact our team for necessary paperwork, including signing the vakalatnama and completing other formalities”, he said.
