The ongoing farmers’ agitation in India against the three farm laws passed the government has been garnering global attention. On Tuesday, international hitmaker Rihanna tweeted about the same as well. Sharing a CNN link on the internet being banned in Delhi’s border areas, where the farmers are agitating, Rihanna said, “Why aren’t we talking about this? #FarmersProtest”.
The tweet garnered massive attention, getting over 32k retweets and more than twice as many likes - at the time of writing - within less than an hour of Rihanna posting it.
why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest https://t.co/obmIlXhK9S
— Rihanna (@rihanna) February 2, 2021
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday extended the temporary suspension of internet at Delhi borders, till February 2, 11 pm, in the wake of farmers' protest. The suspension for two days at the Singhu and Tikri (Delhi-Haryana) border, and Ghazipur (Delhi-Uttar Pradesh) border came at the request of Delhi Police, officials said on Monday. The first such suspension was ordered on Republic Day as incidents of violence started being reported from the farmers’ tractor rally.
According to the government order, in exercise of powers conferred under sub rule 1 of Rule 2 of the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety Rules 2017), and in the interest of maintaining public safety and averting public emergency, ‘it is necessary and expedient to order the temporary suspension of Internet services in Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri and their adjoining areas in the National Capital Territory from 11 p.m. on January 31 to 11 pm on February 2.’
Meanwhile, security was beefed up at the three borders where barricades, boulders, barbed wires came up as additional forces made their way to Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri borders amid news of more farmers joining the protest from Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh.
Drones are being used to keep surveillance and intense checking is being done at border areas which has resulted in massive traffic snarls in the capital. Traffic was affected on road number 56 from ISBT Anand Vihar to Ghazipur due to closing of the border earlier on Tuesday. A traffic jam was also noticed at ITO and other places in Delhi amid heavy police checking. Senior police officers were supervising the situation and keeping a tab on the situation.
Back home too, many celebrities have come out in support of the dissenting farmers. These include actors Taapsee Pannu, Sonu Sood, Sonam Kapoor, Richa Chadha, Preity Zinta, singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh, and actor-producer Priyanka Chopra, among others.
(With IANS inputs)