Jalandhar: Over a dozen accounts on X and Facebook which functioned as official pages of farmers’ organisations and unions ahead of their ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest have been withheld in India – ostensibly upon government request.
X was formerly Twitter.
The social media accounts of farmers were withheld a day before they were to start their protest, on February 13. The call for protest was jointly given by Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (non-political) led by Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Kisan Majdoor Morcha co-ordinator Sarvan Singh Pandher.
In addition to the ban on their social media accounts and an extended internet ban in seven districts of Haryana till February 15, the Haryana police has banned the entry of farmers through multi-layered blockades on the Punjab-Haryana’s Shambhu border from Patiala side and Khanauri border from Sangrur district in Punjab.
The farmers spent February 13 night at the Shambhu border. There was heavy deployment of paramilitary forces on the other side of the border in Haryana.
Besides stopping them from crossing over to Haryana, the Haryana police fired pellets at and used drones to teargas protesting farmers leading to injuries and chaos at the Shambhu border. As per reports, over 100 farmers were injured.
Social media accounts withheld
X accounts and Facebook pages of prominent farmer leaders like Sarvan Singh Pandher, the coordinator of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), Tejveer Singh Ambala, the spokesperson of BKU (Shaheed Bhagat Singh), farmer leader Ramandeep Singh Mann, Surjit Singh Phull from BKU Krantikari, farmer leader Harpal Sangha, Ashok Danoda from Haryana and many others have been withheld.
The government also banned official pages which supported the movement and posted updates on it, like @Tractor2twitr_P run by Bhavjit Singh, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) and Progressive Farmers Front, run by Guramneet Singh Mangat.
BKU (SBS) is one of the main farmer unions which was leading the farmers’ protest from Ambala, Haryana.
‘Gaon Sawera’, a page run by independent journalist Mandeep Punia has been withheld, as has been Mandeep’s personal page. Mandeep is a prominent name supporting the farmers’ protest and had been arrested in 2020. In the jail, Mandeep took notes on his legs and then wrote a report for The Caravan.
The process of withholding these accounts has been largely understood to be opaque. Guramneet’s personal X account is still up, as is Jagjit Singh Dallewal’s X account. But Dallewal’s Facebook page is banned.
The accounts received a message from X saying: “Your account has been withheld in IN [India] in response to a legal demand.”
Interestingly, the official page of Kisan Majdoor Morcha, which was started recently ahead of the Delhi Chalo protest, is still running.
It is pertinent to mention here that earlier during the farmers’ protest in 2020-2021, the Union government had banned many social media accounts including the official page of Kisan Ekta Morcha, which largely functioned as the digital outpost of the SKM.
Back then high profile supporters like Punjabi singer Jazzy B and Khalsa Aid’s Ravi Singh, along with independent journalist Sandeep Singh’s accounts had been withheld and continue to be under lock and key.
Accounts meant to debunk propaganda targeted
Talking to The Wire, Bhavjit Singh, who was running the @Tractor2Twitr_i page on X – which was withheld in the time between he spoke and this report was published – said that all these accounts were withheld as farmer leaders were sitting at a meeting with union ministers on February 12. “We have an assumption that it is not just the Union government but the Punjab government too which was involved in singling out farmer union leaders’ accounts. This is a dangerous trend, as those accounts which were running propaganda against farmers are getting support while the official mouthpieces of farmers meant to debunk the propaganda and misinformation are being targeted,” he said.
Bhavjit said that with the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, the government’s “agenda is to silence all those who dare to speak against or question Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as it will affect his image.”
‘Meeting only if social media accounts restored’
Bhavjit said that the leaders had decided to boycott further meetings till the accounts are restored. “Farmer union leaders have decided that the invitation for a third round of meetings will be accepted only if the government restarts these social media accounts.”
Farmer leader Ramandeep Singh Mann also shared that he was attending the farmers and union ministers’ meeting on February 12 night, when he got a message on WhatsApp that his X account had been withheld.
“I showed the message to union minister Piyush Goyal but he feigned ignorance and said that he was not aware of this action. I asked Piyush Goyal how his government could ask us to believe them. I also asked Punjab NRI affairs minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal who was representing the Punjab government if it was the AAP government who was getting our social media accounts blocked but he too refused to answer,” he said.
Ramandeep said that this is a clear attempt to exert pressure on farmers.
“The fact is that the Union government is afraid of farmers’ strength, which they have already seen during the farmers’ protest in 2020. Let them try whatever they want to, farmers are united and committed to their cause”, he said.
The Wire also spoke to Harinder Happy, a PhD student from JawaharLal Nehru University, Delhi who, among others, was running the Kisan Ekta Morcha, the official Twitter page of the SKM last time. He said that the Modi government had resorted to these tactics last time too during the farmers’ protest.
“It has been two years since they banned the Kisan Ekta Morcha page, which had over five lakh followers. Our page was withheld when the farmers’ protest was at its peak. However, this time considering the Lok Sabha polls 2024 and the mass support for farmers, they withheld the X accounts on the very first day of the protest,” he said.
Happy highlighted how “on one hand, BJP is giving Bharat Ratna to Chaudhary Charan Singh and M.S. Swaminathan and on the other hand, they were not implementing their findings.”
