NEW DELHI (AP) – Tens of thousands of farmers marched, rode on horses and rode tractors into India’s capital on Tuesday, breaking police barricades to storm the historic Red Fort – a highly 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 peasants waving peasant associations and religious flags from the fort’s ramparts, where Prime Ministers hoist the national flag annually on the country’s Independence Day in August. Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons and erected barricades in an effort to prevent the protesters from reaching central New Delhi, but the protesters broke through in 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 with ceremonial swords, ropes, and sticks, overwhelmed the police.
The farmers have been conducting largely peaceful protests for nearly two months, demanding the repeal of new laws that they say will favor large businesses and destroy the incomes of small-scale farmers.
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 being ignored by the government. As their protest gained momentum, it has shaken up the government like never before, as they are the most influential ballot bloc in India as well as crucial to the economy.
“We want to show Modi our strength,” said Satpal Singh, a farmer who drove into the capital on a tractor with his family of five. “We will not surrender.”
Farmers’ leaders said more than 10,000 tractors had joined the protest, and thousands more people marched on foot or on horseback shouting slogans against Modi. In some places they were showered with petals from residents recording the unprecedented protest on their phones.
The authorities used tear gas, water cannons and placed large trucks and buses on roads to stop the crowd, including rows upon rows of tractors pushing concrete and steel barricades aside. Police said a protester died after his tractor fell, but farmers said he was shot. Several bloody protesters could be seen on television.
Farmers – many of them Sikhs from Punjab and Haryana states – tried to march into New Delhi in November, but were stopped by police. Ever since, unfazed by the winter cold and frequent rains, they have squatted on the outskirts of the town and threatened to besiege it if peasant laws are not repealed.
‘We will do what we want. You cannot impose your laws on the poor, ”said Manjeet Singh, a protesting farmer.
The government insists that the agrarian reform laws passed by parliament in September will benefit farmers and boost production through private investment. But the farmers fear it will leave those who own small plots of land behind if big companies win.
The government has offered to amend the laws and suspend their implementation for 18 months. But farmers insist they’ll settle for nothing less than a full repeal and plan to march to parliament on February 1.
Farmers are the latest group to disrupt Modi’s image of imperturbable dominance in Indian politics.
Since Modi’s government came to power for a second term, she has been startled by several convulsions. The economy has tanked, social struggles have intensified, protests have broken out against laws some consider discriminatory, and his administration has been questioning its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2019, the year of the first major protests against his government, a diverse coalition of groups rallied against a controversial new citizenship law that they believe discriminated against Muslims.
But the latest protests – which began in northern states that are major agricultural producers – have sparked a growing peasant uprising that is rapidly spreading to other parts of the country, posing serious challenge to Modi’s government.
Agriculture supports more than half of the country’s 1.4 billion people. But farmers’ economic influence has declined over the past three decades. Once they produced a third of India’s gross domestic product, now farmers represent just 15% of the country’s economy worth $ 2.9 trillion.
According to official data, more than half of farmers are in debt, with 20,638 suicides in 2018 and 2019.
Devinder Sharma, an agricultural expert who has campaigned for income equality for Indian farmers for the past 20 years, said they are not only protesting the reforms but also “challenging the whole economic design of the country.”
“The anger you are seeing is even more anger,” Sharma said. “Inequality is growing in India and farmers are getting poorer. Policy planners have failed to realize this and have sucked revenues from bottom to top. The farmers only demand what is their right. “
Modi has tried to dismiss farmers’ fears as baseless and has repeatedly accused opposition parties of troubling them by spreading rumors.
The protests overshadowed the Republic Day celebration, with Modi overseeing a traditional lavish parade along the ceremonial Rajpath Boulevard showcasing the country’s military might and cultural diversity. Authorities closed some metro stations and mobile internet service was suspended in parts of the capital, a government tactic to thwart protests.
The parade was scaled back due to the pandemic. People wore masks and kept a social distance, while police and military battalions marched along the route with their latest equipment.
Republic Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the country’s constitution on January 26, 1950.
Police said the protesting farmers broke away from the approved protest routes and resorted to “violence and vandalism”.
The group that organized the protest, Samyukt Kisan Morcha, or 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.