Delhi on alert as farmers’ protest pressures Modi ahead of elections

NEW DELHI — India’s capital was under tight security on Tuesday after farmers called a “march to Delhi” to push a list of demands such as better crop prices, debt relief and pensions for agricultural workers.

The tensions are flaring just months ahead of India’s general elections in April and May. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is widely expected to easily win a third straight five-year term, but in recent years it has found itself at odds with India’s farmers — a key voting bloc wooed by all political parties.

The latest movement conjures memories of massive demonstrations around three years ago when thousands of farmers from across the country encamped along the borders of New Delhi. Unfazed by the COVID-19 pandemic and at times harsh weather, the growers were protesting a trio of laws introduced by Modi’s government to liberalize agriculture. The protesters feared the legislation would leave them at the mercy of corporations.

On Jan. 26, 2021, India’s Republic Day, the confrontation turned violent as some demonstrators staged a tractor rally, clashed with police and stormed New Delhi’s historic Red Fort. The three laws were later scrapped.

The new round of farmer protests has given the embattled opposition an issue to latch onto, in a country where the agricultural sector employs about half the workforce and contributes 15% of gross domestic product.

“Barbed wires, tear gas from drones, nails and guns … everything has been arranged [as] the dictatorial Modi government is trying to curb the voice of farmers!” Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the main opposition Congress party, posted on X in Hindi on Tuesday. He shared a collage of pictures showing heavy security arrangements along borders, including those between Punjab and Haryana states.

In 10 years of of BJP rule, he added, the Modi government has “broken” three promises made to the country’s food providers: doubling their income by 2022; calculating a minimum support price (MSP) according to the recommendation of a national farmers’ commission constituted in 2004, which had suggested raising the price to 50% above the cost of production; and giving the MSP legal status.

“Now the time has come to raise a voice [in support] of 620 million farmers,” Kharge said, stressing Congress fully supports the farmers’ movement. “Will not be afraid, will not bow down!”

Police officers and workers erect a barricade on a national highway to stop farmers from marching toward the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in Ghaziabad, India, on Feb. 12.   © Reuters

Sarwan Singh Pandher, a leader of the farmers, said the new march to Delhi was called to step up pressure for a legal guarantee of the MSP, loan waivers and pensions along with a withdrawal of police cases against those involved with the 2020-2021 demonstrations. Those protests were among the largest since India gained independence from Britain in 1947.

The MSP is a government-set benchmark designed to protect farmers from sharp price falls during bumper harvests, but purchases at these prices are not guaranteed because the MSP is not legally binding. Each year, the government sets minimums for around two dozen agricultural products before their sowing seasons. Authorities buy mainly rice and wheat — which are distributed among the poor — at these prices.

“The government does not have any proposal [for us]. They are just killing time,” Pandher told reporters late Monday night after farmers’ representatives met with government officials including Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda and Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal. The talks in the northern city of Chandigarh dragged on for over five hours.

Pandher insisted the march to Delhi would go ahead. “We tried our best to have a detailed discussion with the ministers for some decision to be taken in our favor, but we didn’t see [any progress] during the meeting,” he said. Nevertheless, he did not rule out further negotiations. “Whenever the government calls us for talks, we will go.”

Munda framed the discussion differently, saying the sides held “serious” discussions. “The government always wants to find solutions for each and every problem by holding talks. … While we reached consensus on many issues, there were some issues on which a committee needs to be formed to find a solution.”

He said the government is “ready for talks with an open mind.”

But without any quick resolution, Delhi is bracing. The police have banned public gatherings in the city until March 12, citing safety.

“There is an imminent risk of widespread tension, public nuisance, public annoyance, social unrest and the potential for violence” on account of the protesters entering the capital, the Delhi Police said in a statement on Monday.

TV footage of the city’s periphery shows a large number of security personnel and barricades made of barbed wire and cement blocks, suggesting that authorities are taking no chances after the previous experience with determined farmers.

When thousands of farmers marching from the northern state of Punjab on Tuesday reached the state of Haryana, which also shares a boundary with Delhi, they were met with police tear gas. Haryana is ruled by Modi’s BJP, which has deployed a heavy security presence.

Delhi is governed by the opposition Aam Aadmi Party, but it does not have control over police in the national capital, which falls under the central government. The AAP administration did turn down a Modi government proposal to convert a sports stadium near the Haryana border into a makeshift jail, apparently in preparation for mass arrests.

“The demands of the farmers are genuine,” Delhi Home Minister Kailash Gahlot conveyed to the central government in a letter. “Secondly, it is the constitutional right of every citizen to make a peaceful protest. It is therefore incorrect to arrest the farmers.”

Munda, the agriculture minister, stressed on Tuesday, “The farmers’ unions need to understand that the government of India is bound to protect the interests of the farmers and that no inconvenience should be caused to the public.”