NEW DELHI (AP) – Thousands of Indian farmers blocked a huge expressway on the shores of New Delhi on Saturday to mark the 100th day of protests against agricultural laws that say they will devastate their income.
Farmers climbed on tractors and waved colorful flags while their leaders chanted slogans through a loudspeaker on top of an improvised stage.
Thousands of them have crouched outside New Delhi’s borders since late November to express their anger at three laws passed by Parliament last year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government says laws are needed to modernize agriculture, but farmers say they will leave them poorer and at the mercy of large corporations.
Samyukta Kisan Morcha, or Joint Farmers’ Front, said the blockade would last five hours. “It is not our hobby to block roads, but the government is not listening to us. What can we do? “Said Satnam Singh, a member of the group.
The farmers were not intimidated, even after the violence broke out on January 26 during clashes with police that left one protester dead and hundreds injured. But they may be in trouble soon.
For 100 days, Karnal Singh lived in the back of a trailer along a vast stretch of arterial highway that connects northern India with New Delhi. He camped outside the capital when it was under the grip of winter and pollution. Now the city is bracing itself for the scorching summer temperatures, which can reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).
But Singh, like many other farmers, has not been intimidated and plans to stay until the laws are completely lifted.
“We are not going anywhere and we will fight until the end,” said Singh, 60, on Friday, as he sat cross-legged inside a makeshift shelter in the back of his truck.
The weather on the border of Singhu, one of the protest sites, was turbulent on Friday, with many farmers settling in on the outskirts for a long journey.
Huge soup kitchens that feed thousands of people daily were still functioning. Farmers packed both sides of the highway and hundreds of trucks were turned into rooms, equipped with water coolers in preparation for the summer. Electric fans and air conditioners are also being installed on some trailers.
Farmers say the protests will spread across the country soon. The government, however, expects many of them to return home as soon as the big Indian harvest begins at the end of the month.
Karanbir Singh dismissed such concerns. He said his community, including friends and neighbors in the villages, would look after the farms while he and others continued the protests.
“We are going to help each other to ensure that no farm runs out of harvest,” said Singh.
But not all farmers are against the law. Pawan Kumar, a fruit and vegetable grower and a staunch supporter of Modi, said he was ready to give them a chance.
“If they (the laws) do not benefit us, we will protest again,” he said. “We are going to bottle roads and make this protest even bigger. Then, more ordinary people, even workers, will join. But if they prove to be beneficial to us, we will keep them. “
Several rounds of negotiations between the government and farmers have failed to end the impasse. Farmers rejected an offer by the government to suspend the laws for 18 months, saying they want total repeal.
The legislation is unclear about whether the government will continue to guarantee the prices of certain essential crops – a system that was introduced in the 1960s to help India increase its food reserves and prevent shortages.
Farmers also fear that the legislation indicates that the government is moving away from a system in which the overwhelming majority of farmers sell only to government-authorized markets. They fear that they will be left at the mercy of corporations that will no longer have a legal obligation to pay them the guaranteed price.
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The Associated Press videojournalist, Rishabh R. Jain, contributed to this report.