Modi Internet crackdown fuels India anger before farmer protests

A farmer stands next to police barricades along a blocked highway as farmers continue to protest against the central government's recent agricultural reforms at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh state border in Ghaziabad on Feb 4, 2021. — AFP

Thousands of Indian farmers called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to lift its blackout on phone and internet services ahead of a push to block roads across the country on Saturday to escalate protests now in their fourth month.

The farmers, backed by a growing international campaign of celebrities and activists such as Rihanna and Greta Thunberg, issued a statement Friday calling for an “immediate reinstatement” of telecommunciations services that were disrupted at protest sites outside of the capital, New Delhi border. “The government’s efforts to suppress the voice of disagreement continue,” the farmer unions said in a statement.