No internet in parts of Uttar Pradesh

Over the last two weeks, protests broke out in Uttar Pradesh over the citizenship amendment bill. Over 21 people have already lost their lives. Internet was cut off in many parts of the state. With fresh protests having erupted on Friday, the state government cut off internet in over 21 districts across Uttar Pradesh. Nearly a third of the state is now without internet. Many people took to social media to show their protests.

Like in #Kashmir, the Modi regime has blacked out Internet in Uttar Pradesh to punish and persecute Muslims behind a veil of darkness. If India claims to be a democracy – why would it eliminate the most important channel for speech, communication and information?- Khaled Beydoun, Law Professor and Author.

The state government had already suspended internet in prime locations like Aligarh, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Firozbad, Rampur, Sitapur, Meerut and Kanpur. It has not been suspended in the state capital Lucknow. Agra, one of the main tourist locations in the world, is located at Uttar Pradesh. Internet was suspended in the city from 8 am to 6pm on Friday.

The citizenship amendment bill was introduced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah earlier in December. There has been widespread protests across India over this. One of the worst affected states was Uttar Pradesh.  “There is no internet for more than 100m people in #UttarPradesh today. All app based Government ‘Yojanas’ are out of bound”, tweeted journalist Pankaj Pachauri.