Conflicts & War

Thousands of farmers demonstrate in Indian capital amid increased security

New Delhi, Mar 14 (EFE).- Thousands of farmers moved to New Delhi on Thursday to take part in a mass demonstration, after having been held outside the borders of the Indian capital for around a month, amid a strong security deployment by the authorities.

Peasant leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni told India’s PTI agency Thursday that the government had failed to meet the demands of farmers and workers, and that they had organized a protest in New Delhi.

This is the largest concentration of farmers in the capital since the beginning of the agrarian protests on Feb. 13, in which they have been demanding minimum support prices (MSP) for their crops against market fluctuations, among other things.

The New Delhi Police warned that traffic could be affected in various parts of the city in the face of the massive influx of farmers and deployed hundreds of troops around the Ramlila ground, where the demonstration was scheduled to take place.

The protest has the permission of the authorities, on the condition that farmers do not travel to the capital on tractors and that the number of protesters does not exceed 5,000 people, according to local media reports.

However, several peasant leaders stressed in recent days that this number will be widely exceeded.

This agrarian protest began last month when thousands of peasants began a march to New Delhi that was stopped by police at the border of Punjab and Haryana states in northern India.

As part of this protest, at least one farmer lost his life in Haryana during a clash with the police, who used water cannons and tear gas to prevent farmers from advancing.

Apart from MSP, the protesters’ demands include pensions for farmers, debt waivers, and the withdrawal of police cases filed against demonstrators during the 2021 protests.

India witnessed a massive farmer protest between 2020 and 2021, when thousands of farmers camped for almost 15 months outside Delhi, opposing an agrarian reform of the Indian government.

Modi had to bow to pressure and repeal a newly enacted law, which farmers said gave too much power to big companies by deregulating the market.

Peasant associations say the government has not met all their demands. EFE

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