NEW DELHI (AP) – Thousands of Indian farmers blocked a massive highway on the outskirts of New Delhi on Saturday to mark the 100th day of protests against agricultural laws that they say will destroy their incomes.
Farmers stood on tractors and waved colorful flags while their leaders sang slogans through a loudspeaker atop an improvised stage.
Thousands of them have squatted outside New Delhi’s borders since late November to express their anger at three laws passed by Parliament last year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government says the laws are necessary to modernize agriculture, but farmers say they will leave them poorer and at the mercy of big corporations.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha, or Joint Farmers’ Front, said the blockade would last five hours. “It is not our hobby to block roads, but the government does not listen to us. What can we do? ”Said Satnam Singh, a member of the group.
Farmers have remained undaunted even after violence broke out on January 26 in clashes with police that killed one protester and injured hundreds. But they could get into trouble quickly.
Karnal Singh lived in the back of a trailer for 100 days along a sprawling highway connecting northern India to New Delhi. He camped outside the capital when it was in the throes of winter and smog. Now the city is bracing for scorching summer temperatures that can reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).
But Singh, like many farmers, is unfazed and intends to stay until the laws are completely repealed.
“We’re not going anywhere and will fight to the end,” Singh, 60, said Friday, as he sat cross-legged in a makeshift shelter in the back of his truck.
The mood at the Singhu border, one of the protest locations, was boisterous on Friday, with many farmers settling in their area for the long term.
Huge soup kitchens that feed thousands of people every day were still in operation. Farmers thronged both sides of the highway, and hundreds of trucks have been converted into rooms equipped with water coolers in preparation for the summer. Electric fans and air conditioners are also installed in some trailers.
Farmers say protests will soon spread across the country. However, the government hopes that many of them will return home once India’s great harvest season begins at the end of the month.
Karanbir Singh rejected such concerns. He said their community, including friends and neighbors in the villages, would keep farms while he and others continue the protests.
“We will help each other to ensure that no farm is being harvested,” Singh said.
But not all farmers are against the laws. Pawan Kumar, a fruit and vegetable grower and an avid Modi supporter, said he was ready to give them a shot.
“If it turns out that they (the laws) are not benefiting us, we will protest again,” he said. “We will block roads and make that protest even bigger. Then more ordinary people, even workers, will join. But if they prove beneficial to us, we will keep them. “
Several rounds of talks between the government and the farmers have not been able to break the deadlock. The farmers have rejected an offer from the government to suspend the laws for 18 months, saying they want a full repeal.
The legislation is unclear as to whether the government will continue to guarantee prices for certain essential crops – a system put in place in the 1960s to help India replenish its food reserves and avoid shortages.
Farmers are also concerned that the legislation is a signal that the government is moving away from a system where a vast majority of farmers sell only to government-sanctioned marketplaces. They fear that they will be at the mercy of companies that are no longer legally obliged to pay them the guaranteed price.
Associated Press video journalist Rishabh R. Jain contributed to this report.