Mobile operators are losing around Rs. 2.45 crores ($350,000) in revenue every hour they are forced to suspend Internet services on government orders to control protests against a new citizenship law, a top lobby group said on Friday. Countrywide protests have raged for three weeks after parliament passed legislation which gives minorities from neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh a path to citizenship but excludes Muslims. That, coupled with a plan for a national register of citizens, are seen by critics as anti-Muslim moves by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To quell protests, government has deployed thousands of police as well intermittently ordered mobile data shutdowns at a time people have used social media such as Instagram and TikTok to wage a parallel battle online. Such Internet suspensions have been criticised by Internet freedom activists. On Friday, mobile Internet was ordered shut in at least 18 districts in Uttar Pradesh, a telecoms industry source told Reu