JALANDHAR: Recently two prominent Punjabi Twitter handles - @Tractor2twitr and Sanyukt Kisan Morcha's @kisanektamorcha - along with a few other Sikh handles were withheld by Twitter in India "to comply with Twitter's obligations under India's local laws under the country's Information Technology Act, 2000". The most recent addition to the list was of philanthropist Ravi Singh of Khalsa Aid. The exact reasons are not yet in the public domain.
@Tractor2twitr had played a crucial role in mobilizing online support and driving narrative during the farm movement while @kisanektamorcha did so in the dissemination of information from the SKM perspective. Though now Punjabi or Sikh netizens appear to be having trouble with the Union government, for the last around 8-9 years a considerable section of Punjabi netizens, including those from the diaspora, have been playing the role of opposition in the state as well as driving the narrative. On specific issues, they could be in sync with the government or a political party, or a leader also. In Punjab, barring a few exceptions, quite a few times the narrative has been going from ground to upwards.
