NEW DELHI (AP) – Thousands of Indian farmers on Saturday blocked a massive highway on the outskirts of New Delhi to commemorate the 100th day of protests against agricultural laws that say they will devastate their incomes.
Peasants stopped at tractors and waved colorful flags as their leaders chanted slogans through a loudspeaker on top of an improvised stage.
Thousands of them have taken refuge outside New Delhi’s borders since late November to express their anger against three laws passed by Parliament last year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government says the laws are necessary to modernize agriculture, but farmers say they will leave them poorer and at the mercy of large corporations.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha, or Farmers Front, said the blockade would last five hours. “It’s not our job to block roads, but the government doesn’t listen to us. What can we do? ”Said Satnam Singh, a member of the group.
Farmers have remained free even after violence erupted on January 26 during clashes with police that left one protester dead and hundreds injured. But they could soon have problems.
For 100 days, Karnal Singh has lived in the back of a trailer along an extensive stretch of arterial road that connects northern India with New Delhi. He camped outside the capital when it was under the reach of winter and smog. Now the city is preparing to burn summer temperatures that can reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).
But Singh, like many other farmers, is not afraid and plans to stay until the laws are completely withdrawn.
“We’re not going anywhere and we’re fighting to the end,” Singh, 60, said Friday as he sat cross-legged inside a makeshift shelter in the back of his truck.
The weather on the Singhu border, one of the protest sites, was boisterous on Friday, and many farmers settled around it for the long haul.
Huge kitchens still functioned that feed thousands daily. Farmers crowded both sides of the highway and hundreds of trucks have been converted into rooms, equipped with water coolers in preparation for the summer. Electric fans and air conditioners are also installed in some trailers.
Farmers say the protests will soon spread across the country. The government, however, expects many of them to return home once India’s most important harvest season begins at the end of the month.
Karanbir Singh dismissed these concerns. He said his community, including friends and neighbors back in the villages, would tend to the farms while he and others continued the protests.
“We will help each other to make sure no farm is left unharvested,” Singh said.
But not all farmers are against the law. Pawan Kumar, a fruit and vegetable producer and a staunch supporter of Modi, said he was willing to give them a chance.
“If they (the laws) turn out not to benefit us, we will protest again,” he said. “We will block roads and make this protest even bigger. Then more ordinary people will join, even workers. But if they are beneficial to us, we will keep them. “
The multiple rounds of talks between the government and farmers have failed to end the stalemate. Farmers have turned down a government offer to suspend the laws for 18 months, saying they want a complete repeal.
The legislation is unclear whether the government will continue to guarantee the prices of certain essential crops, a system that was introduced in the 1960s to help India strengthen its food reserves and prevent scarcity.
Farmers also fear legislation would indicate that the government is moving away from a system in which an vast majority of farmers sell only to government-sanctioned markets. They are worried that it will leave them at the mercy of companies that will have no legal obligation to pay them the guaranteed price.
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Associathab Press video journalist Rishabh R. Jain contributed to this report.