Violence erupts at the latest protest by Indian farmers against changes to the agricultural law

In some corners of the capital, the police tried to stop them by hitting the crowd with batons. Local media broadcasts scenes of farmers ramming their tractors into parked buses to block and contain roads.

Some metro stations were closed and the Indian Interior Ministry ordered the shutdown of the internet in some areas in and around Delhi.

More than 80 police personnel were injured in the protests, said Anil Mittal, a Delhi police spokesman. Delhi police said a group of protesters on horseback with swords blamed police barricades in one incident.

“This protest has damaged many public property and many police officers have been injured,” Delhi police said in a statement. “We appeal to the protesters to keep the peace.”

Vikram Singh, a joint secretary of the All India Agricultural Workers’ Union, a national body of about seven million farmers, said most of the protesters were peaceful. He said at least one farmer died in the protest.

“For the past two months, our movement has been peaceful and disciplined. It was the use of force by the police that created chaos, ”said Mr Singh. “The government plays with the emotions of the farmers.”

The protests have emerged as the biggest challenge facing Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he took power in 2014. Mr. world’s worst Covid-19 recessions.

The government says the laws will dismantle some of the government’s control over agricultural markets, in the hope that increased competition and private sector involvement will streamline and modernize the sector. Protesting farmers worry that the laws would drastically cut government aid.

The laws passed through parliament in September with little debate. Farmers gathered in the capital in November and demanded that the laws be repealed. Government and peasant leaders have held more than 10 meetings and Mr Modi’s government has offered to delay the implementation of the laws for 18 months.

The protesting farmers are concerned that the laws will mark the beginning of the dismantling of a system of rules, subsidies and aid that bolsters their meager incomes. Most come from the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, which are most dependent on the government system.

Many economists have for years advocated the types of changes Mr. Modi is making, saying they would boost investment and encourage innovation and efficiency. Deregulation would help increase incomes for farmers and lower prices for consumers by reducing the number of government-sanctioned middlemen and giving companies more reasons to invest in the industry.

While the average farmer and consumers can ultimately benefit, advocates of the policy say it will still be a difficult change for many traders, who will be exposed to more competition, and farmers, who fear they will lose buyers who buy grain. and produce at prices set by the state.

Prime Minister Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is consolidating power at the national and state levels, and many economists expected it to use its dominant position to drive unpopular but necessary innovations. The agricultural laws were among the BJP’s most ambitious efforts to change the way the Indian economy was managed.

Some economists and investors said they would see if Mr. Modi decides that isn’t worth the effort his party can get in the polls.

“Agrarian reform was overdue and the government has the numbers and the support to make these changes happen,” said Mihir Sharma, head of the economy and growth program at the Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation. “It would be a shame if it gave in to protests that were completely predictable.”

—Vibhuti Agarwal and Krishna Pokharel contributed to this article.

Write to Eric Bellman at [email protected] and Rajesh Roy at [email protected]