Farmers gather to protest laws
THOUSANDS of Indian farmers gathered in a large grain market outside New Delhi on Tuesday (7), protesting against new agricultural laws they say threaten their livelihoods and actions by police during similar demonstrations last week.
“A large number of farmers are attending the meeting to ask the government to punish those responsible for using force against unarmed and elderly farmers,” said Balbir Singh Rajewal, a senior farmers’ leader. The grain market where farmers were meeting on Tuesday is about 150km from New Delhi, in neighbouring Haryana state.
Farmers will also organise demonstrations at major government offices in Haryana to press their demands, Rajewal said. “The use of excessive, disproportionate force was not only brutal, but it was also a vengeful act,” he said.
Last month, about 10 farmers were injured after police resorted to baton charges to stop protesters from blocking a Haryana highway. One farmer died later although officials say the death was not due to baton injuries. For more than eight months, tens of thousands of farmers have camped on major highways to New Delhi to oppose the farm laws in India’s longest-running growers’ protest.
More than half a million farmers participated in a protest in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh last Sunday (5) – the biggest rally yet - demanding the withdrawal of the laws, introduced
in September last year.