Social media platforms take farmers’ agitation beyond Indian shores
BATHINDA: As the ongoing farmer agitation gets endorsement by various international celebrities, three social media handles have emerged as major players in raising the voice of the agrarian community against the contentious central farm laws.
As Twitter suspended their activities on more than twice since December following complaints of alleged disputed content, these virtual accounts attained more attention.
Social media analysts say Sanyukt Kisan Morcha’s official IT cell Kisan Ekta Morcha, Tractor2twitr and BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) are leading in ‘digital agitation’.
From live and recorded video feeds of farmer leaders, web links of various news and social media platforms, illustrations and photographs flooded on these accounts. Twitter #hashtags give the protest a new lease of life every day.
‘Tractor2twitr’ Twitter account, initiated by a computer professional from Ludhiana, continues to be at the centrestage. Bhavjit Singh, 38, is not associated with any farmer or political organisation and the idea of launching a Twitter account hit him incidentally.
“After coming from Sydney from an assignment in October last year, I thought of initiating a hashtag to take the voice of farmers to the elite and urban population. The very name Tractor2twitr became an instant hit online. I had never thought the handle will reach this level of popularity,” he said. Bhavjit is now assisted by a team of five volunteers from his hometown Ludhiana and Delhi.
Established on November 29 last year, the handle has nearly 48,000 followers. “We have resolved to raise voice of farmers. But there is no space on our platform for or against any faith, political ideology or individuals,” he added. The handle was once withheld and suspended by Twitter in the last three weeks. “We are alert after being targeted by organised IT cells for getting attention beyond Punjab and India. A backup Twitter handle has been suspended after a bunch of motivated complaints,” he added.
Kisan Ekta Morcha is the most active platform on Facebook and Twitter. Created on December 14 last year, Facebook has accorded it a blue tick or verified it as an official handle as ‘community organisation’. It is followed by 4.45 lakh users while 3.4 lakh FB users have ‘liked’ the page.
As per the transparency details, it is managed by 11 individuals from India. SMK joined Twitter in December and it has a following of 2.17 lakh users. The Twitter handle was suspended at least twice for allegedly objectionable online content.
After coming from Sydney in October last year, I thought of initiating a hashtag to take the voice of farmers to turban population
BHAVJIT SINGH,
admn, Tractor2twitr