SINGHU, India – In a standoff between farmers from India’s northern breadbasket and the government that has convulsed the country, the farmers have a 21st-century ally: a handful of supporters scattered around the world running a Twitter handle.
The farmers have paralysed some traffic in and out of New Delhi, protesting recent agriculture laws that they fear could eventually eliminate government-guaranteed minimum prices for their crops.
But the demonstrators, many of them from the Sikh religious minority, say they are also battling a social media campaign by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP brands some of the protesters as separatists from the giant multi-ethnic nation, a charge the demonstrators call disinformation.
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Source: Tractors to Twitter: India’s protesting farmers battle on highway, online | Reuters