NEW DELHI: As the farmers camp out at the edges of the Indian capital, protesting new agricultural laws they say will devastate their earnings, the mainstream and social media have come under unprecedented attacks from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

Critics say it has used the massive demonstrations to escalate a crackdown on free speech, detaining journalists and freezing Twitter accounts.

Its a very chilling development for the press, said Apar Gupta, executive director of the Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group.

Activists, journalists and media watchdogs rushed to condemn Twitter, which said it had acted upon a valid legal request issued by an Indian authority.

Hundreds of Indian Twitter accounts, including those of news websites, activists and a farmers union, were suspended on Monday. Some, including The Caravan’s, have since been restored.

Offline, at least nine journalists have been charged in the last few weeks for covering the protests.

The trigger for the clampdown was the death of a protester, Navneet Singh, when the largely peaceful rallies turned violent on Jan 26 after a group of farmers veered from an agreed protest route and stormed New Delhi’s 17th century Red Fort. Hundreds of police and farmers were injured in clashes.

Thousands of farmers in a politically important Indian state on Friday rallied in opposition to new agricultural laws, signalling growing support for a months-long campaign to have the government reforms scrapped.

Angry at what they see as legislation that benefits private buyers at the expense of growers, tens of thousands of farmers have been camped on the outskirts of the capital, New Delhi, for more than two months, calling for the withdrawal of laws introduced in September.

Much of the initial support for the protests has come from rice and wheat growers from northern India, particularly opposition-ruled Punjab state.But in a sign of a growing challenge to the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, more than 10,000 farmers from across the political and religious spectrum rallied on Friday in Uttar Pradesh state to show their support for the protests.

Ramkumar Choudhary, a local leader from Bagpat district, said thousands more would head to Delhi unless the government rolled back the laws.

“Only 1% of people have come out of the villages so far. The day we send 50% of our people, there will be no place to move in Delhi,” he said after addressing the crowd of Hindu and Muslim farmers in Bhainswal village.

Devender Singh, a sugarcane farmer who attended the rally, said the agitation was drawing widespread support.

“100% of farmers from all communities are joining the protest,” he said, “Farmers are unable to make ends meet.” Hundreds of police, many armed and wearing riot gear, stood by, but there was no trouble.

Uttar Pradesh is India’s largest state and a critical battleground state in elections.

While Modi’s party commands a comfortable majority in parliament, the support for the protests from Uttar Pradesh’s politically influential sugarcane farmers will be a worry.

The farmers say the laws mean the end of long-standing support prices for their crops and will leave them vulnerable to the whims of big buyers. They are demanding that the laws be annulled.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2021