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Farm and Forest Labour

Farmer Protests: From streets to social media

Throwing caution to the wind, farmers across the nation stepped out on the roads to decry the insensitive laws put down by the Centre. Workers, peasants, students and netizens all came together to hold the government accountable.

By early afternoon of September 25, hashtags supporting farmers’ and workers’ defiance to the recent agriculture and labour laws were trending on Twitter.

Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav who attended protests in Haryana posted a screenshot that showed #BharatBandh #NoToFarmerBills and #ScrapAntiFarmerActs as the top three trending hashtags in India.

 

 

Similarly, the three-day long “rail roko” agitation of Punjab farmers was leading on Twitter news. However, the star of the Twitter trend show was its neighbouring state that sent in visuals of dissent from every nook and cranny of Haryana.

 

 

State traffic police in their share of work to ensure farmers’ right to protest.

 

 

 

Members of the Students Federation of India (SFI) sang and posted in memory of the Tebhaga Andolan by the Kisan Sabha in 1946-47. The takeaway message – This country is not going to surrender! We are going to teach this government a lesson they are never going to forget!”

 

Young farmers rapped their rage on social media, making a case for the neglected farmers of the country.

 

Opposition parties like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) used not-so-subtle visuals to portray the ruling party’s intentions.

 

Meanwhile, a Standing Committee member listed all that the BJP had accomplished during its rule –  bad and mostly bad.

 

While thousands of farmers stepped out on the roads across the nation, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s twitter account posted a video of a bunch of nameless farmers – save one – talking about the benefits of the new agriculture laws.

 

However, netizens remain disillusioned of these assurances as well as they continue to show their solidarity at least in the virtual world, with the farmers.

 

Related:

Live Updates on All India Protests against Farm Bills, 2020
Nation continues agitation against anti-people laws
Voices of dissent course through the country
First they came for the farmers, now they come for the workers

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