Delhi witnessed its longest internet shutdown during the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) protest demanding the resignation of (now former) education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. On Saturday morning, the government issued a seventh order extending the suspension of mobile internet services around Jantar Mantar until 12 midnight.The repeated internet suspensions pushed protesters to look for alternative ways to communicate. (REUTERS)However, people in and around the affected area said mobile internet services were restored shortly after Pradhan announced his resignation on X and the CJP called off its protest, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had agreed to its demands.The restoration came well before the scheduled midnight deadline for the suspension. Despite the restoration, telecom service providers (TSPs) had not received any formal order revoking the suspension until late Saturday evening, said people aware of the matter.In the last five days, it was only on July 21 when the government did not issue a suspension order. With the seventh extension that came Saturday, mobile internet in the area remained repeatedly suspended for five days, making it the longest such disruption recorded in the national capital.Also Read:CJP protest: Plea filed in Delhi HC against internet suspensionA timeline of shutdownsThe shutdown began on July 20, when the government directed TSPs, including Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, to suspend mobile internet services from 10am to 6pm in parts of central Delhi around Jantar Mantar. A second order followed on July 22, directing operators to suspend services from 6pm until 6 am the next morning.On July 23, the government first extended the suspension from 9.3am to 4.30pm before issuing another order extending it until midnight. On Friday, authorities again suspended mobile internet until noon before issuing a sixth order extending the shutdown till 12 midnight. On Saturday, a seventh order further extended the suspension till 12 midnight.The orders require telecom companies to suspend mobile internet services within a 1.5-km radius of the protest site. Affected areas include Janpath Market near Connaught Place, Le Meridien, Shangri-La hotel, the National Media Centre and the Indian Women’s Press Corps office.Digital rights organisation SFLC.in also challenged the internet shutdown orders before the Delhi High Court, arguing that the suspension of mobile internet services in parts of central Delhi during the July 2026 protests was unlawful.A history of shutdownsWhile Delhi has seen internet shutdowns before, they have been shorter and linked to specific law-and-order situations.One such instance was in December 2019, during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), when mobile internet services were suspended for several hours in parts of the capital. The shutdown was ordered by Delhi Police, which is empowered to direct telecom operators to suspend services under the temporary telecom suspension rules.Another instance of internet shutdown occurred during the farmers’ protests in 2021. In January 2021, the government suspended mobile internet services in adjoining areas of Delhi. The suspension was later extended at some of the Delhi border protest sites, including Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri, as the farmers’ agitation continued.Unlike the 2019 and 2021 disruptions, the current shutdown was extended through multiple consecutive government orders over several days.The repeated internet suspensions pushed protesters to look for alternative ways to communicate. Some turned to apps such as Bitchat Mesh, which do not depend on mobile internet. Instead, the app creates a Bluetooth-based mesh network that connects nearby users, allowing messages to be exchanged without an internet connection.The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Home Ministry, also issued a notice to GitHub under section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, directing it to remove URLs hosting BitChat, said the messaging app’s founder Jack Dorsey on X on Friday.