On the one-year anniversary of the law’s passage, a coalition of farmer’s unions, known as the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, or United Farmers’ Front, renewed demonstrations. Protesters gathered on highways, causing traffic jams and cutting off access from the capital to neighboring states.
The Indian government said the legislation will boost production through private investment, but farmers claim the law will end guaranteed pricing and force them to sell their crops to corporations at lower prices.
“The enthusiasm we had on the first day, it is much stronger and bigger now,” Manjit Singh, a farmer and protester, told AP.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
The farmers’ unions also called on shops, offices, factories and other institutions to shut their doors in solidarity with the 10-hour strike. The calls for a strike, however, seemed to go largely unanswered, with most businesses continuing work as usual across the capital.
In neighboring Punjab and Haryana states—which are the country’s the two biggest agricultural producers—thousands of demonstrators also blocked highways, bringing traffic to a halt in some areas.
In the eastern state of Bihar, trains were halted as farmers squatted on railway tracks. Protesters also took to the streets, raising slogans against the Modi government, burning tires and blocking roads across the region. Police said some 500 protesters had been taken into custody, but added that the shutdown remained peaceful.
In the southern city of Bengaluru on Monday, hundreds of people marched in support of the protest against the government. In the southern state of Kerala, the ruling Left Democratic Front called for a total shutdown, local media reported.
Opposition parties in India, including the Congress Party, have supported the farmers. Senior leader Rahul Gandhi called the government “exploitative” and said he stood with farmers on Monday.
A number of talks between the government and farmers have failed to resolve the issue.
In November, the farmers escalated their movement by hunkering down on the outskirts of New Delhi, where they have camped out for nearly a year, pushing through a harsh winter as well as a coronavirus surge that devastated India earlier this year.
While the farmers’ protest movement has been largely peaceful, demonstrators in January broke through police barricades to storm the historic Red Fort in the capital’s center. Clashes with police left one protester dead and hundreds injured.
