Violence erupts in the latest protest by Indian farmers against changes in agricultural legislation

In some corners of the capital, police tried to stop them by beating the crowds with batons. Local media broadcast scenes of farmers dragging tractors on parked buses to block roads and contain them.

Some subway stations were closed and the Ministry of Interior of India ordered that the Internet be shut down in some areas of Delhi and its environs.

More than 80 police officers were injured during the protests, said Anil Mittal, a Delhi police spokesman. Delhi police said a group of horse-drawn protesters carrying swords loaded police barricades in an incident.

“This protest has damaged many public properties and many police officers have been injured,” Delhi police said in a statement. “We call on the protesters to keep the peace.”

Vikram Singh, joint secretary of the All-India Agricultural Workers Union, a national body of about seven million farmers, said most of the protesters were peaceful. He said at least one farmer died during the protest.

“For the last two months, our movement has been peaceful and disciplined. It was the use of force by the police that caused the chaos, “Singh said.” The government has been playing with the excitement of the farmers. ”

The protests have become the biggest challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he took power in 2014. Modi backed an ambitious renewal of India’s agricultural sector through new agricultural laws as part of a larger plan to help the country’s economy recover from one of the world’s worst Covid-19 recessions .

The government says the laws will dismantle some government control of agricultural markets in the hope that greater competition and private sector involvement will streamline and modernize the sector. Protesting farmers are worried because the laws will drastically reduce government support.

The laws were pushed into Parliament in September with little debate. Farmers converged on the capital in November demanding the repeal of the laws. Government and agricultural leaders have held more than ten meetings and Mr Modi’s government has offered to delay the implementation of the laws for 18 months.

Protesting farmers are concerned that the laws mark the beginning of the dismantling of a system of regulations, subsidies and aid that boosts their meager incomes. Most are from the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, which depend more on the system of government.

Many economists have for years advocated for the types of changes Modi is making, saying they would boost investment and encourage innovation and efficiency. Deregulation is supposed to help increase farmers ’incomes and reduce consumer prices, reducing the number of government-sanctioned intermediaries and giving companies more reason to invest in the industry.

While farmers and average consumers can benefit, policy advocates say it will remain a difficult change for many traders, who will be exposed to increased competition, and farmers, who fear they will lose their jobs. buyers who are required to buy their grain and produce at prices set by the state.

Prime Minister Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata party, has been consolidating power at the national and state levels, and many economists have hoped it could use its dominant position to push for unpopular but necessary reforms. Agricultural laws were one of the BJP’s most ambitious attempts to change the way the Indian economy is managed.

Some economists and investors said they would be watching to see if Mr Modi decides that the effort is not worth having the party at the polls.

“Agricultural reform had been delayed and the government has the figures and support to make these changes a reality,” said Mihir Sharma, head of the economics and growth program at the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation. . “It would be a shame to give in to completely predictable protests.”

—Vibhuti Agarwal and Krishna Pokharel contributed to this article.

Write to Eric Bellman to [email protected] and Rajesh Roy to [email protected]