THOUSANDS of farmers hit the streets of New Delhi today to demand that the government introduce a new law to guarantee minimum crop prices.
This comes after weeks of a stand-off between the farmers and the authorities who blocked the protesters from entering the city.
Farmers rode crowded buses and trains instead of their tractors to New Delhi after authorities barricaded highways into the capital with cement blocks and barbed wire.
Police banned use of farm vehicles as a condition for granting permission for the rally in the city. Protesters were also barred from carrying sticks or swords to avoid clashes with police.
Protesters carried placards demanding free electricity for farming. They say that without minimum price guarantees for their crops, they would be at the mercy of the markets and that would spell disaster, especially for the more than two-thirds of them who own less than two-and-a-half acres of land.
The rally, called by the United Farmers Front, was held at Ramlila Ground, but the police said no more than 5,000 people were allowed to take part.
Chitwant Singh, a protester, said that farmers didn’t earn enough to cover their costs, adding: “The traders and middlemen take away all our profits.”
The protests come at a crucial time for India, which has a national election in April-May in which right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is widely expected to secure a third successive term.
Farmers are a particularly influential voting bloc because of their numbers. More than 60 per cent of India’s 1.4 billion people depend on farming for their livelihoods.
The farmers are also pressing the government to keep its promises to waive loans and withdraw legal cases brought against them during earlier protests in 2021.
But several rounds of talks between the farmers and the government have failed to break the deadlock.
Two years ago, tens of thousands of farmers camped out on the outskirts of New Delhi for months, forcing Mr Modi to repeal new agriculture laws in a major reversal for his government.
Jagjit Singh Dallewal, one of the farmers leading today’s protest, condemned the government for the massive security measures.
All India Farmers Union general secretary Vijoo Krishnan said: “We know that at least 425,000 farm workers have committed suicide because of the extreme crisis that they are in.”
He said: “But this government has done nothing to help the farmers. Each one of their promises has been betrayed.”
