NEW DELHI (AP) – Tens of thousands of farmers marched, rode and drove tractors to the Indian capital on Tuesday, breaking police barricades to attack the historic Red Fort, a deeply symbolic act that revealed the magnitude of his challenge to Prime Minister Narendra. The government of Modi.
As the country celebrated Republic Day, the long-running protest turned violent, with farmers waving the agricultural union and religious flags from the fort’s walls., where prime ministers hoist the national flag annually during the country’s August Independence Day. Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons and set up barricades in an attempt to prevent protesters from reaching central New Delhi, but protesters stormed in many places.
People watched in amazement as the dam of the fort, which was built in the 17th century and served as the palace of the Mughal emperors, was shown live on hundreds of news channels. Protesters, some carrying ceremonial swords, ropes and sticks, overwhelmed police.
Farmers have been organizing peaceful protests for nearly two months, demanding the repeal of new laws that they say will favor large business farms and devastate the profits of smaller-scale farmers.
The controversial legislation has aggravated the existing resentment among farmers, who have long been regarded as the heart and soul of India, but often complain that they have been ignored by the government. As their protest has picked up strength, it has shaken the government like never before as they constitute India’s most influential voting bloc and are also crucial to its economy.
“We want to show Modi our strength,” said Satpal Singh, a farmer who drove to the capital with a tractor along with his family of five. “We will not give up.”
Farmers’ leaders said more than 10,000 tractors joined the protest and thousands more marched on horseback while shouting slogans against Modi. In some places, residents watered them with flower petals that recorded unprecedented protest on their phones.
Authorities used tear gas, water cannons and placed large trucks and buses on the roads to try to stop the crowd, including rows after rows of tractors, which set aside concrete and steel barricades. Police said a protester died after his tractor overturned, but farmers said he was shot. Several bloodied protesters could be seen in the television footage.
Farmers – many of them Sikhs from the states of Punjab and Haryana – tried to leave for New Delhi in November, but were arrested by police. Since then, unperturbed by the winter cold and frequent rains, they have fallen on the outskirts of the city and threatened to besiege it if agricultural laws are not repealed.
“We will do what we want. You can’t impose your laws on the poor, ”said Manjeet Singh, a farmer who protested.
The government insists that the agricultural reform laws passed by Parliament in September will benefit farmers and increase production through private investment. But farmers fear it will leave behind those who have small plots while large corporations win.
The government has offered to amend the laws and suspend their implementation for 18 months. But farmers insist they will settle for nothing less than a complete repeal and plan to march on Parliament on 1 February.
Farmers are the latest group to be disturbed by Modi’s image of unperturbed rule in Indian politics.
Since returning to power for a second term, the Modi government has been shaken by several convulsions. The economy has shrunk, social conflicts have widened, protests have erupted against laws that some consider discriminatory, and his government has been questioned over its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2019, the year he witnessed the first major protests against his administration, a diverse coalition of groups rallied against a controversial new citizenship law that they said discriminated against Muslims.
But the latest protests, which began in the northern states, which are large agricultural producers, have sparked a growing rebellion of farmers that is spreading rapidly to other parts of the country, posing a serious challenge to the Modi government.
Agriculture supports more than half of the country’s 1.4 billion people. But the economic weight of farmers has declined in the last three decades. Once they produced a third of India’s gross domestic product, farmers now account for only 15% of the country’s $ 2.9 trillion economy.
More than half of farmers are in debt, with 20,638 deaths in 2018 and 2019, according to official records.
Devinder Sharma, an agriculture expert who has spent the past two decades campaigning for equal income for Indian farmers, said they not only protest the reforms, but also “challenge the whole economic design of the country.”
“The anger you see is aggravated anger,” Sharma said. “Inequality is growing in India and farmers are getting poorer. Policy planners have not realized this and have absorbed revenue from the bottom up. Farmers only demand what their right is. ”
Modi has tried to dismiss the fears of farmers as unfounded and has repeatedly accused opposition parties of agitating them by spreading rumors.
The protests overshadowed Republic Day celebrations, in which Modi oversaw a lavish traditional parade along the ceremonial Rajpath Boulevard showcasing the country’s military power and cultural diversity. Authorities shut down some metro train stations and suspended mobile internet service in parts of the capital, a frequent tactic by the government to thwart protests.
The parade was reduced due to the pandemic. People wore masks and clung to social distancing as police and military battalions marched along the route with their latest equipment.
Republic Day commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the country’s constitution on January 26, 1950.
Police said protesting farmers broke away from approved protest routes and resorted to “violence and vandalism.”
The group that organized the protest, Samyukt Kisan Morcha, or United Peasants’ Front, blamed the violence on “antisocial elements” who “infiltrated a peaceful movement.”
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AP video journalist Rishabh R. Jain contributed to this report.