NEW DELHI (AP) – Tens of thousands of farmers marched, rode horses and drove tractors into India’s capital on Tuesday, piercing police barricades to storm historic Red Fort – a deeply symbolic act that revealed the scale of their challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
As the country celebrated Republic Day, the long-running protest turned violent, with farmers waving the farm union and religious flags on the ramparts of the fort., where prime ministers fly the national flag annually in 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 many places.
People watched in shock as the takeover of the fort, which was built in the 17th century and served as the palace of the Mughal emperors, was broadcast live on hundreds of news channels. Protesters, some carrying ceremonial swords, ropes and sticks, overwhelmed police.
Farmers have been organizing peaceful protests for almost two months, demanding the withdrawal of new laws that are said to favor large farm holdings and destroy farmers’ profits on a smaller scale.
The controversial legislation has exacerbated resentment among farmers, who have long been seen as the heart and soul of India, but often complain that they are ignored by the government. As their protest has taken hold, it has shaken the government like never before, since it forms the most influential voting bloc in India and is also crucial to its economy.
“We want to show Modi our strength,” said Satpal Singh, a farmer who drove a tractor into the capital with his family of five. “We will not surrender.”
Farmers’ leaders said more than 10,000 tractors joined the protest and thousands more marched on foot or rode as they shouted slogans at Modi. In some places, they were rained with flower petals by residents who recorded the 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 row by row of tractors, which removed the concrete and steel barricades. Police said a protester died after he overturned his tractor, but farmers said he was shot. Several bloody protesters could be seen in the television footage.
Farmers – many of them Sikhs from Punjab and Haryana – tried to go to New Delhi in November, but were stopped by police. Since then, dissatisfied with the winter cold and frequent rains, they have scattered on the outskirts of the city and threatened to besiege it if the farm’s laws are not repealed.
“We will do what we want. You can’t force the laws of the poor, “said Manjeet Singh, a farmer who protests.
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 those who own small plots while large corporations win.
The government offered to amend the laws and suspend their implementation for 18 months. But farmers insist they will be content with nothing less than a complete repeal and plan to walk to parliament on February 1st.
Farmers are the latest group to upset Modi’s image of unwavering dominance in Indian politics.
Since returning to power for a second term, Modi’s government has been shaken by several convulsions. The economy has outgrown, social conflicts have spread, protests have erupted against laws some consider discriminatory, and his government has been questioned about its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2019, the year that saw the first major protests against his administration, a diverse coalition of groups rallied against a controversial new citizens’ law that they said discriminated against Muslims.
But the latest protests – which began in the Nordic countries, which are large agricultural producers – have sparked a growing peasant revolt, which 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 influence of farmers has declined over the past 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 the farmers are in debt, with 20,638 who committed suicide 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 he was not only protesting the reforms but also “challenging the country’s full economic design”.
“The anger you see is aggravated anger,” Sharma said. “Inequality is growing in India, and farmers are becoming poorer. Policy planners have failed to achieve this and have sucked in revenue from the bottom up. Farmers only ask what their right is. ”
Modi tried to dismiss farmers’ fears as unfounded and repeatedly accused opposition parties of stirring them up by spreading rumors.
The protests overshadowed the Republic Day celebrations, in which Modi oversaw a lavish traditional parade along the ceremonial Rajpath Boulevard, showcasing the country’s military strength and cultural diversity. Authorities closed some subway stations, and mobile internet service was suspended in parts of the capital, a frequent tactic of the government to counter protests.
The parade was reduced due to the pandemic. People wore masks and joined the social distance while police and military battalions marched along the route, presenting their latest equipment.
Republic Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the country’s constitution on January 26, 1950.
Police said Protestant farmers broke away from approved protest routes and resorted to “violence and vandalism.”
The group that organized the protest, Samyukt Kisan Morcha, or the United Farmers’ Front, blamed the violence on “anti-social elements” who “infiltrated an otherwise peaceful movement.”
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AP video journalist Rishabh R. Jain contributed to this report.