Synopsis In a world united by social platforms, there are no boundaries, only lasting impressions. A single voice can become, like it or not, a movement, be that #MeToo or #BlackLivesMatter. Governments don’t get to decide the direction a hashtag will take nowadays, people do. In a polarised world, India’s farmer protest is fast looking like that underdog. PTI And yet, the wariness with which it is treating protesting farmers, shows it in many quarters as unfriendly and insular. Since Independence, India, liberal and populous, has never been able to rid the China comparison. Its neighbour, less free and more populous, was always ahead of India, whose cities were never modern enough, labour never skilled enough, and ports never efficient enough.