New Delhi, Feb 14 (EFE).- Indian police on Wednesday used tear gas shells on thousands of farmers marching to the capital, New Delhi, demanding pro-agrarian measures and safeguards.
Security forces, who have barricaded all entrance points to New Delhi, fired tear gas shells on farmers at Shambhu border – crossing between the northern states of Punjab and Haryana – who were marching to the capital.
Farmers on tractors and trucks from various states began their march on Tuesday to New Delhi, while barricades, barbed wires and several teams of security forces have been deployed at the borders to keep them out.
On Tuesday, Haryana police dropped tear gas shells on farmers when they tried to break the barricades at the Shambu border, some 200 kilometers from New Delhi.
The demonstrators, backed by several farmers’ associations, are demanding the government enact a law that guarantees Minimum Support Prices (MSP), a government policy created to protect the price of crops in the face of market fluctuations.
This was one of the most contentious topics in the mass protests two years ago by tens of thousands of Indian farmers who camped for nearly 15 months outside Delhi, opposing an agrarian reform that the Indian government was ultimately forced to repeal in November 2021.
Their other demands include pensions for farmers, debt waivers, and withdrawal of police cases filed on farmers during the 2021 protests.
The government run by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised to set up a panel to ensure MSP for all farm produce but two years on, farmers see little progress made.
Hundreds of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and neighboring Uttar Pradesh seek to pressure the defiant Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led administration into giving in to their demands as it gears up for the general elections slated for this year.
A huge procession of farmers carrying union flags and chanting slogans of farmers’ unity was camped at the Punjab-Haryana border for the second day, visuals from local news channel NDTV showed.
Indian authorities have blocked the state borders with massive sand-filled containers, and riot control vehicles, and have fixed cement blocks onto the road.
The Haryana government has reportedly shut down internet and mobile phone messaging services in several districts to “prevent any disturbance of peace and public order.”
There have been sporadic demonstrations by farmers since the mass protests of 2021. In August, hundreds of farmers marched to Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, calling for the government to fulfill its promises.
The return of farmers to the streets comes ahead of the general elections, expected to be held this summer, posing a significant challenge for Modi and the BJP, looking to secure a third consecutive term in power. EFE
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