Indian riot police used tear gas on Wednesday to prevent thousands of farmers demanding low prices for their crops from crossing heavily guarded barricades and marching toward the capital New Delhi.
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Farmers called for a “Delhi Chalo” (march on Delhi) this week, reminiscent of their demonstration on January 26, 2021, when they forced police blockades in New Delhi on Republic Day during a multi-month standoff with the government. At that time they were protesting against the liberalization of agricultural markets.
But this time the long tractor convoys were blocked by massive barricades made of concrete blocks and barbed wire guarded by police.
Farmers are demanding the setting of a minimum price for grain as well as a range of other concessions, including debt cancellation.
Tear gas was fired in Shambhu, about 200 kilometers north of the capital on the state border between Punjab and Haryana, where the main group of farmers was stopped, journalists said. “AFP on site.”
Because of their numbers, farmers in India enjoy significant political influence. The risk of further protests comes ahead of national elections expected in April.
Two-thirds of the 1.4 billion inhabitants live from agriculture, which, according to official figures, accounts for almost a fifth of the country's GDP.
On Tuesday, Indian security forces fired tear gas, including from drones, as farmers tried to clear roads by setting up barricades with their tractors.
“Police officials were targeted with stones,” Haryana state police said in a statement, adding that 24 officers were injured.
Police set up roadblocks on major roads leading to the capital from the three neighboring states. Mobile internet was disrupted in some parts of Haryana.
Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda said a law guaranteeing a minimum price for crops “cannot be passed in a hurry,” news agency PTI (Press Trust of India) reported on Tuesday.
The recent protests by farmers against agricultural reform in November 2020 lasted more than a year, until autumn 2021, and posed the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government since he came to power in 2014. These demonstrations resulted in at least 700 deaths. The three contested laws were repealed in November 2021.