India’s Supreme Court has suspended a number of controversial new agriculture laws that have prompted hundreds of thousands of farmers to stage a several-month protest in Delhi over fears that their livelihoods were at stake.
Since November, more than half a million farmers have marched on the outskirts of Delhi and occupied roads and highways going to the capital, setting up a non-stop protest camp and refusing to move until the new laws are repealed.
Farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, had claimed that the new laws were passed by the government without consultation, exposed them to the pity of large corporations for crop prices and put them at greater risk of poverty and loss of energy. of the earth.
Farmers’ protests have proved to be one of the biggest political challenges the prime minister, Narendra Modi, has faced since coming to power in 2014. It was one of the first times the government was forced to negotiate after the unrest. en masse and, despite eight rounds of talks, remained deadlocked.
After two days of deliberation, the supreme court decided on Tuesday to suspend the laws. The judges ordered the creation of a four-member committee to look at farmers’ grievances about the law, saying they were “extremely disappointed” with the way the negotiations had gone so far. The judges expressed concern about the lack of consultation with farmers in the adoption of the law.
“These are matters of life and death. We care about the laws. We are concerned about the lives and property of those affected by the unrest. We try to solve the problem in the best way. One of the powers we have is to suspend the legislation “, he declared to the court of the chief judge SA Bobde.
While many politicians who expressed anger at agricultural laws celebrated the ruling, it was ridiculed by farmers’ leaders who said “now is not the time for a committee”.
The agricultural unions have reiterated that they will not take part in any court proceedings ordered by the court and will not cancel the protest until the new legislation is repealed.
“The members of the Supreme Court-appointed committee are not trustworthy because they have written about how agricultural laws are pro-farmer. We will continue our agitation, “Farmers’ leader Balbeer Singh Rajewal told a news conference.
Farmers have said they intend to continue with a planned protest rally in Delhi on Republic Day on January 26. So far, 60 farmers have died while participating in the protests, which involved camping in changing tents at freezing winter temperatures.
Some have described the ruling as an obstacle for Modi, who can usually rely on the support of the supreme court, which is widely seen as favorable to the ruling government.
However, other observers noted that the court’s decision to suspend agricultural laws gave the government a way out of the deadlock in negotiations without appearing to have bowed to farmers’ demands.