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What Next TBD: India Turns Off the Internet

Slate Daily Feed

Slate Podcasts

News, Business, Society & Culture

41.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2021

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last week, in response to protests by farmers outside New Delhi, India, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi restricted access to the mobile web in areas where the protests were unfolding. The move is the latest in the Indian government’s long history of throttling internet access and censoring speech online. Why is the Modi government increasingly shutting down the internet and stifling digital dissent? And what does the party’s history of internet shutdowns tell us about India’s future? Guest: Pranav Dixit, correspondent for Buzzfeed News Host Lizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

It was a nice sunny day for a change we've been having like a harsh winter.

0:29.3

The public day falls on January 26th and it honors India's constitution, which went into effect on that day in 1950.

0:36.3

It's a big deal.

0:38.3

And this is the main battle tank of the Indian Army.

0:42.3

Schools and businesses are closed.

0:44.3

There are huge parades through Delhi, airplanes and helicopters fly overhead, soldiers march information, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks on.

0:54.3

So the parade went well. The Prime Minister was there and so was everybody else.

0:59.3

But as that was happening, thousands and thousands of farmers decided that they were going to storm in on that day.

1:10.3

The farmers had gathered from all around India to protest new agricultural laws that they say hurt workers.

1:16.3

They'd been camped outside the center of the city. And on Republic Day, they went in.

1:22.3

Some more on foot, others driving tractors, and they made their way toward police barricades.

1:30.3

So they sort of reached police barricades and stormed the city and eventually ended up at the Red Fort, which is this big historical monument.

1:43.3

Yeah, it's beautiful. It dates back to the Mogul era, 17th century.

1:48.3

I feel like it's one of those iconic, Delhi landmarks.

1:53.3

What did all of this look like?

1:56.3

Some people compared it to the storming of the US Capitol. I think it's apples and oranges.

2:02.3

It was thousands and thousands of people perched on the ramparts of the Red Fort, which is, you know, it's literally red.

2:10.3

It's this very distinctive structure and to see like all these thousands of people sitting along those red walls, shouting slogans, and the police trying to stop them.

2:20.3

It was a lot of crazy pictures and videos that were floating around on the internet and the news.

2:25.3

During the protests, at least one person, a protester, was killed.

2:30.3

Some eyewitnesses on the scene told journalists that the man had been shot by police.

2:35.3

But the police said that the man's tractor had overturned, that he died in the crash.

...

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