Farmers Movement Archive

Punjab netizens man virtual bastion as farmers protest

JALANDHAR: Punjabi farmers are not just breaking barricades to reach the borders of Delhi to protest against farm laws, they are also storming Twitter to challenge propaganda against their agitation. For the last three days, they have made “Tractor2Twitter” and three other hashtags for Twitter trends. They also worked on pushing other hashtags in support of their movement up on the trending list. While netizens from other places, including a few prominent handles, have also contributed significantly, those from Punjab are particularly active. All this happened less than a week after Punjabi netizens ran a campaign urging others to counter the propaganda against farmers who braved barricades, water cannons, tear gas and even a few lathis. When the ‘Tractor2Twitter’ campaign was started on Facebook, several Punjabi netizens joined Twitter. Now, hashtags are announced beforehand and then used. The #Tractor2Twitter has been trending since Wednesday, #BoycottAdaniAmbani has been trending since Wednedsay, #TakeBackFarmLaws since Thursday and #FarmersAreLifeLine since Friday. Other pro-farmer hashtags are also being used. On Friday evening, #FarmersProtestDelhi2020 was trending along with #FarmersAreLifeLine and #TakeBackFarmLaws. The page, Tractor2Twitter, started around a week back, has gathered over 7,600 followers. Hashtags are announced from this handle and other netizens quickly spread these. Informative pieces and articles on agricultural issues are also being circulated. On Friday, Punjabi singer Ranjit Bawa quipped about the repeated trends, “eve lagda jinve sara Punjab aa gya twitter te…” (It seems as if entire Punjab has joined Twitter). When Punjabi singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh had a spat with actor Kangana Ranaut, he received considerable support from Punjabi netizens. The agitation has also fostered camaraderie between Punjabi and Haryanvi farmers. Apart from the shared agitation on the ground, a number of pictures and stories of the bonhomie between Haryanvis and Punjabis are doing the rounds. Several Punjabi and Haryanvi netizens have uploaded posts expressing mutual respect and admiration. At least for now, the bitterness around the SYL issue is forgotten. With farmers and other residents of Haryana extending help to Punjabi protesters at the Delhi border, Punjabis from the protest site and other netizens are uploading posts acknowledging their support.

The Times of India

2020-12-05

Chandigarh