First he tried messaging friends, but WhatsApp was down. Then, the credit card readers at his clothing store weren’t working. Ride-sharing apps were offline too.

Harsh Madhok, who runs a clothing business in Jaipur, a city of three million people, had read about internet shutdowns elsewhere in India.

Now he was in the middle of one in his city in central India, as authorities tried to damp down unrest following a traffic incident that led to clashes between police and locals.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Madhok, 45, of the Sept. 9 shutdown. “These things leave you feeling like you don’t know what’s going on.”

Under the rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s Hindu nationalist leader, Internet shutdowns have escalated sharply in the world’s largest democracy.