MUZAFFARNAGAR (India) – Hundreds of thousands of farmers gathered in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh yesterday, the biggest rally yet in a months-long series of demonstrations to press Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to repeal three new agricultural laws.
More than 500,000 farmers attended the protest in the city here, said local police.
The demonstration in Uttar Pradesh, a predominantly agricultural state that is home to 240 million people, will breathe fresh life into the protest movement, said Rakesh Tikait, a prominent farmers’ leader.
“We’ll intensify our protest by going to every single city and town of Uttar Pradesh to convey the message that Modi’s government is anti-farmer.”
Over the past eight months, tens of thousands of farmers have camped on major highways to the capital New Delhi to oppose the laws, in the country’s longest-running farmers’ protest against the government.
The measures, introduced in September last year, allow farmers to directly sell their produce, outside government-regulated wholesale markets, to big buyers. The government has said this will unshackle farmers and help them get better prices.
Farmers, however, said the legislation will hurt their livelihood and leave them with scant bargaining power against big private retailers and food processors.
Farming is a vast sector that sustains almost half of India’s more than 1.3 billion people, and accounts for about 15% of the country’s US$2.7 trillion (RM11.2 trillion) economy.
Balbir Singh Rajewal, another farmers’ leader, said yesterday’s rally is a warning to Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, which next year will contest state polls in Uttar Pradesh, often seen as a barometer of the popularity of the federal government.
“Our message is very clear: either repeal the laws or face defeat in the state election.” – Reuters, September 6, 2021
