The protesters stationed at the Singhu border on Sunday were a happy lot. Mobile Internet services were back after several days.
Harinder Happy, a media coordinator at the Singhu border said Net services have resumed, but due to a high density of mobile users (protesters), the speeds are slow in the area. The office-bearers of farmer units were using Wi-Fi services to avoid any congestion.
Mr. Happy said that during the period when Internet services were suspended, they switched to Wi-Fi, but they faced congestion while live-streaming. Now, things are back to normal and the YouTube channel of Kisan Ekta Morcha is functioning well.
Around 10 a.m., when Internet services resumed at the border, protesters rejoiced the occasion by streaming songs on their mobile phones and danced to the tunes. “Many elderly people made video calls to their family members back in their villages in Punjab and Haryana. They informed about their well-being and other updates,” said Shamsher Singh, a protester.
Seventy-year-old Kulwant Singh, who has been protesting at the border for the past 30 days, said he is not used to the mobile phone. But he had to inform his family members concerned about him after they received the news of an elderly protester dying due to cardiac arrest at Singhu.
“A man, who is from my village in Patiala, helped me call my grandson after my family made several calls to him regarding my health. I assured them that I will return soon after the government repeals the farm laws,” said Mr. Singh.
Unstoppable movement
The protesters said the government attempted to suppress the movement but they failed miserably. “Now, the movement is unstoppable. Shutting down the Internet won’t stop people from getting updates,” said Badshah Pal, a protester. Internet services have also helped freelance journalists and Youtubers covering the movement and in sharing live updates on social media.
“We had to travel over 5km from the Singhu border to get Internet services. It was very tough, but now things are better and we can put up videos again,” said Shashank Shekher, a freelance journalist.