NEW DELHI (AP) – Leaders of a protest movement on Wednesday tried to distance themselves from a day of violence when thousands of farmers stormed India’s historic Red Fort, the most dramatic moment in two months of demonstrations that have become a major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Farmers demanding the repeal of the new agricultural laws briefly seized the 17th-century fort, and television-broadcast live images impacted the nation. In a particularly bold reproach to Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, protesters hoisted a Sikh religious flag.
At least one protester was killed and several protesters were injured, as well as more than 390 police officers, and there are concerns about the violence that could undermine the protest movement that has so far been largely peaceful and is gaining strength.
Police said 19 people were arrested and 50 more were arrested for questioning.
Farmers, many of them minority Sikhs in the main agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana, are calling for the repeal of new laws that say they will favor large business farms, devastate the profits of many farmers by reducing aid prices and leaving those who have small plots behind when large corporations win.
The government insists the laws will benefit farmers and boost production through private investment, but in the face of protests, it has offered to suspend them for 18 months. Farmers want nothing less than a total repeal.
On Tuesday, more than 10,000 tractors and thousands more on foot or on horseback moved to the capital, setting aside barricades and buses blocking their passage, and sometimes meeting with police using tear gas and water cannons. .
“The situation is normal now. Protesters have taken to the streets of the capital, “New Delhi Police Officer Anto Alphonse said Wednesday morning.
Hundreds of police are now guarding the fort, while farmers have returned to their camp on the outskirts of the capital, where they have been sheltered since November, when they last tried to march on New Delhi. Disappointed by the winter cold and frequent rains, they have said they will stay until agricultural laws are repealed.
Protesting farmers’ groups were scheduled to meet later Wednesday to discuss future action. Another march is scheduled for February 1, when the Modi government plans to present the annual budget to Parliament.
As the protests have picked up strength, they have shaken the government like never before as they form India’s most influential voting bloc and are also crucial to its economy. But political analyst Arti Jerath said Tuesday’s violence could diminish his power.
“The Supreme Court has said all along that farmers can continue the protest without disrupting life in New Delhi,” he said. “Tuesday’s development has given the government a chance to go to higher court and say that’s precisely what it feared would turn violent.”
The cracks appeared in the protest movement on Wednesday when a former convener of the farmers’ umbrella organization broke away from the group after the violent clashes on Tuesday.
VM Singh said he was willing to hold talks with the government on legislation that would guarantee a minimum price of support for wheat and rice. He said he is no longer seeking the repeal of the three new laws.
The organizer of the protest, Samyukt Kisan Morcha, or United Peasants Front, tried to distance the movement from the violence, accusing two external groups of sabotage of infiltrating their movement.
“Even if it was sabotage, we cannot escape responsibility,” said Yogendra Yadav, another leader of the protest.
Yadav said frustration had built up among protesting farmers and asked, “How do you control it if the government doesn’t take seriously what they’ve been demanding for two months?”
Several roads were reopened on Wednesday near the police headquarters and Connaught Place, a commercial area close to government offices, following a protest by some retired Delhi police officers demanding the prosecution of farmers who they protested against finger violence.
Since returning to power for a second term, the Modi government has been shaken by several convulsions. The pandemic has brought down India’s recessionary economy, social conflicts have widened and its government has been questioned for its response to the coronavirus pandemic. India last suffered a recession in 1979-80 after an oil shock.
In addition, India has seen an increase in Hindu nationalism under Modi that has sunk minority groups. In 2019, the year he witnessed the first major protests against his administration, a diverse coalition of groups rallied against a new controversial citizenship law that they said discriminated against Muslims.
Now anger is also beginning to rise among Sikhs, although farmers ’protests continue to be largely driven by economic factors. India is predominantly Hindu, while Muslims account for 14% and Sikhs for almost 2% of its nearly 1.4 billion people.
“The government has failed in national security. I think this government seems to be quite blinking at the kind of security challenges it creates by alienating minority, Muslim and Sikh communities, ”said Jerath, the political analyst.
Tuesday’s climb overshadowed Republic Day celebrations, including the annual military parade that was already shrinking due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Neeraja Choudhury, a political analyst, said the government did not anticipate what was to come and was not properly prepared for it. “If farmers are generally agitated in India, protests cannot be ruled out because some opposition incites farmers.”
Police said protesting farmers broke away from approved protest routes and resorted to “violence and vandalism.” Anil Kumar, a police spokesman, said more than 300 troops were injured in clashes. Several jumped into a deep, dry ditch in the fort area to escape the protesters who overtook them in various places.
Police said a protester died after his tractor overturned, but farmers said he was shot. Several bloody protesters could be seen in the television footage, but it is not known how many were injured.
Thirty police vehicles and hundreds of metal barricades were damaged by protesters, according to police.