Security forces in India’s western states continued to fire tear gas on farmers protesting for a second day on Wednesday demanding an increase in grain prices.
Thousands of farmers, traveling on trucks and trolleys loaded with food, bedding and other goods, started the march towards the national capital New Delhi on Tuesday morning.
The protests began after farmers’ unions and the government failed to reach an agreement on minimum crop prices.
The security forces have stopped the protesters on the border of Punjab and Haryana, about 200 km from Delhi.
A spokesman for the Haryana Police told Reuters that “tear gas shelling is still going on today and will continue until the situation is under control.”
Photos and videos released by India’s news agency ANI show that drones are also being used to drop tear gas shells on protesters.
The farmers’ unions said they ‘have not come to fight with the police.’
Sarwan Singh Pandhar, general secretary of farmers’ organization ‘Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sanghrish Committee’, while talking to reporters, said that either the government should accept our demands or democratically give us the right to go to Delhi, but they are not doing that either. are.’
The government has appealed to the farmers to come forward to discuss their demands.
Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda added that efforts will continue to talk to farmers in a ‘constructive and positive manner’.
In 2021, following similar year-long protests by farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government pledged to repeal some agricultural laws and find ways to ensure support prices for all agricultural produce.
Farmers say that the government is showing slowness in fulfilling the last promise.
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Harjinder Singh, 53, who joined the protest from Amritsar, said: ‘We will not go until our demands are met because our trust has been betrayed once before.’
He warned that the protest would be bigger than ever before.
The protests come at a time when national elections are just months away in the country, where Modi is gearing up to campaign for a third term.
The protests have affected traffic in the border areas of Delhi on Wednesday, where the police are trying to control the situation. Vehicles on the Grand Trunk (GT) Road are being diverted to other roads 20 km away.
According to Indian media, mobile and internet services have also been suspended in many areas of Punjab and Haryana.
The images released by ANI also show tight security arrangements in other areas adjacent to the national capital.
Haryana has also suspended mobile internet, bulk messaging and dongle services in several parts of the state amid fears of spreading inflammatory content and false rumours.
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2024-08-05 00:38:00
#India #Farmer #protesters #kilometers #Delhi #police #crackdown #continues
2024-08-05 00:39:56