Indian Americans hold protest rallies in US against new farm laws in India
Indian Americans held peaceful protests in various parts of the country in a bid to lend their support to the farmers who have been raising their voice against farm reforms in India...
HUNDREDS of Americans, mainly Sikhs, have held peaceful protest rallies in several cities across the US in support of the Indian farmers who have been protesting against the new agricultural laws in India.
A large car caravan of protesters from various parts of California blocked the traffic on the Bay Bridge on Saturday as they moved towards the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, while several hundreds gathered in downtown Indianapolis.
The protesters at both the places demanded the new laws be repealed, saying they would push Indian farmers towards poverty and give the corporate sectors a monopoly.
Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and several other Indian states have been protesting for the last eleven days at the borders of Delhi against three farm laws.
Dubbing these laws as ‘anti-farmer’, these farmers claim that the newly enacted legislations would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the ‘mercy’ of big corporations. However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture.
Marking protest against new farm laws, Indiana-based Gurinder Singh Khalsa said, ‘Farmers are the soul of any nation. We must protect our soul. People around the world, including many cities in the US and Canada, have come together to dispose of the bills that will open India’s agricultural market to the private sector; allowing major corporations to take over independent farming communities and dilute crops’ market value,’.
Khalsa was one of the organisers of the rally in downtown Indianapolis attended by nearly 500 Sikh Americans from various parts of Indiana.
A day earlier, there was a gathering of Sikh-Americans in Chicago and a protest rally in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington DC.
‘No Farmers, No Food’ and ‘Save the farm