Demonstrations in India: cutting communication networks, a political tool

After more than a week of protests, the Indian government has taken a new step. In certain districts of the center of the capital New Delhi, access to the Internet and to the services of two major telephone operators, Airtel and Vodafone, have been cut. The Internet has also been suspended in several Muslim-majority cities in Uttar Pradesh, as well as in several northeastern states.

In this context of demonstrations hostile to the government, these cuts in access to the Internet and mobile networks have a political aim. "Officially, the goal is to prevent jihadist terrorists from communicating, but everyone knows that this is not the real reason, explains Mira Kamdar, journalist and writer specialist of India. In reality, this is so that people cannot communicate with each other and they fail to demonstrate. "

However, these cuts did not prevent the demonstrators from meeting on Thursday. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of the country, despite assembly bans and arrests. All are protesting against a controversial citizenship law. Voted by Parliament on December 11, it facilitates the granting of Indian nationality to refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, on the condition that they are not Muslims. Feeling stigmatized, Muslims, who represent 14% of the population, joined the protest movement en masse.

"Prove that the police are committing blunders"

But they are not the only ones to demonstrate. Worried about the fate of Indian democracy, non-Muslims are mobilizing. And the Indians are finding alternative solutions to connect and tell their stories. "Thanks to social media, people are smart enough to post images, testify and prove that the police are committing blunders," says Mira Kamdar. Indians, for example, favor the brand new social network Mastodon over Twitter, which is more closely watched.

The authorities, who ordered the cuts, act in accordance with Indian law. The Indian Constitution provides for restrictions on freedom of expression, in particular to preserve "public order". "India has passed a whole series of bills that control or limit access to the Internet," said the specialist.

Already on August 5, when the Indian authorities had revoked the partial autonomy of Kashmir, they had blocked Internet access in the region. Mira Kamdar speaks of “an open air prison”. "The goal is to transform Kashmir into a kind of Indian Gaza Strip," said the journalist.

The Indian government not only limits access to the Internet, it also uses it to better control information. On Sunday evening, December 15, police entered the University of Jamia Millia Islamia, located in south Delhi. Clashes with police left 200 injured. According to Mira Kamdar, the government used the Internet to present students as responsible for the violence. "The authorities have circulated an information: they said that the students set fire to buses when this is not true," indignant the expert.

Over 350 Internet outages since 2012

By controlling communications networks, the government also seeks to preserve India's image abroad. "Blocking the Internet allows the power to prevent citizens from communicating with the outside world," said Mira Kamdar. Despite everything, "this Thursday, we saw, on social networks, images extremely harmful to India, in particular those which show the arrest of one of the greatest Indian historians, Ramachandra Guha, during a demonstration in Bangalore . "

#WATCH Karnataka: Police detained historian Ramachandra Guha during protest at Town Hall in Bengaluru, earlier today. #CitizenshipAct https://t.co/8jrDjtsOfm pic.twitter.com/P8csG0x9HN

According to Internet Shutdown Tracker, a platform that identifies Internet outages in India, these are frequent: the country has known 366 since 2012, including 94 this year. The New York Times points out that India is the country in the world that blocks internet access the most. According to the American magazine Forbes, between January 2016 and May 2018, India was at the top of the countries with the highest number of Internet access cuts (154), far ahead of the second, Pakistan (19). The situation is getting worse: "It's unheard of," says Mira Kamdar.

"We are witnessing a moment of change. The citizens know that if they do not demonstrate in mass now, the country will fall into a Hinduist and authoritarian state. No one could be safe in such a state", s worries the journalist.

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