Indian farmers are demanding fair prices for their products and more government support. Their protest takes them to the capital New Delhi, where the police are waiting for them with roadblocks and water cannons.
The air is hazy with tear gas. In the early afternoon, about 200 kilometers from the Indian capital, there were the first violent clashes between the farmers and the police – on the border between the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana.
Hundreds of farmers are trying to overcome security force barricades here, as an Indian television reporter reports: “The farmers have not yet managed to get to the other side.” The security forces use water cannons. Some demonstrators are injured.
New Delhi is preparing
The capital New Delhi is also preparing for the onslaught of farmers. Thousands of security forces are deployed, heavily armed and equipped with helmets and protective vests.
Early in the morning, police and soldiers had set up barricades on the main roads. Some of them were secured several times – with barbed wire and heavy cement blocks, some of which were even set in concrete. In other places they block the road with trucks and shipping containers.
Hundreds of tractors and transport trucks fill the streets towards New Delhi.
Inconclusive meeting with the government
The farmers are demanding a minimum price for grain and generally more financial support. A meeting between associations and government representatives ended on Monday after six hours – with no result.
Farmer Sarvan Singh Pander told Reuters: “We felt that it is not appropriate to give the government more time now. If there is a good suggestion, then we can think about giving them more time. But they have nothing to offer.”
Arjun Munda, India’s central government agriculture minister, noted after the meeting: “There were some issues where we said a committee should be formed for a permanent solution.”
But one committee is unlikely to be enough for the farmers. Numerous associations called for the “March on Delhi” yesterday. They are expecting more than 25,000 farmers with around 5,000 tractors from the surrounding rural states around India’s capital.
Protests shortly before parliamentary elections
The protests come just months before India’s general election. Thousands of farmers protested three years ago. They set up a protest camp on the outskirts of Delhi and demonstrated stubbornly for a whole year. In the end, Prime Minister Modi’s government was forced to withdraw some laws.
The police have banned large gatherings in New Delhi for the next four weeks. Also weapons like swords, spears and bamboo sticks.
Peter Hornung, ARD New Delhi, tagesschau, February 13, 2024 1:35 p.m