According to reports, tens of thousands of farmers had protested on the main road leading to the capital New Delhi for more than a month to oppose the new farm bill passed in September. Farmer protest leaders stated that the new law will allow big Indian companies to squeeze farmers and reduce farmers’ incomes, calling on farmers to boycott Indian Reliance Group, which owns telecommunications towers, and Indian multinational agribusiness Adani. Recently, protests have escalated, and farmers’ anger cannot be suppressed. More than 1,500 Reliance Telecom towers in Punjab, northern India have been damaged by protesters.
According to Punjab officials, the power supply and fiber optic cables of Reliance’s 1,500 telecommunications towers were cut off, and the engines of some towers were stolen. A staff member of the Reliance Group stated that as of December 27, local time in India, more than 1,400 base stations had been damaged, and 150 staff members were injured in attacks by farmers, while the staff of the Reliance Group was driven away. Videos of leaving the telecom tower are also widely circulated on social media in India. The protesters also surrounded the largest edible oil warehouse owned by the Adani subsidiary in Punjab.
However, the Indian peasant protest leader denied involvement in the operation against the Punjab Telecom Tower. Farmer Davinder Singh, who participated in the Amli protest on December 28, local time in India, told AFP that the peasants had resisted the new law. The voice of China has received more and more attention. He said: “We and the farmer’s brothers who are protesting at the Delhi border have always been together.
We call on all Indians to boycott Reliance Group and Adani Enterprises, and many people responded to us and said that they would never use Reliance Group products anymore. “Because farmers believe that the new law will allow big Indian companies to squeeze farmers and reduce farmers’ incomes, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government insists that their purpose is to help those trapped in low productivity. The stagnant agricultural sector brings investment. Therefore, the two sides have been unable to complete negotiations, and farmers’ protests have also escalated.
It is reported that previously, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised India’s Reliance Group’s telecommunications network as “very clean”, which made them believe that they would surpass China’s Huawei and become the “pillar” of India’s network and build a global presence. A “safe” and “clean” 5G network.
In July 2020, Reliance Group launched its self-developed 5G system. Reliance Group decided to deploy it on the spot in 2021 and export it globally. The Indian people are very proud, but many people still mocked: “Don’t talk about 5G, the 4G network speed provided by Indian operators is similar to China’s 2G network speed. When India’s 4G network speed is faster than China’s 2G network speed When it’s still slower, what is the difference in developing 5G? Indian operators will still provide 5G services at 2G speeds in China.”
At present, Reliance Group has not yet commented on this sabotage, but mobile phone services in Punjab have indeed been severely affected. A new round of negotiations between the farmers’ protest leaders and the Modi government will be held on December 30, local time in India. The protesters said that if there is no progress in this negotiation, they will take more extreme actions.
