NEW DELHI (AP) – Indian farmers participating in more than two months of protests against new agricultural laws have launched a day-long hunger strike on Saturday as they sought to reaffirm the peaceful nature of their movement following recent violent clashes with police.
Agricultural leaders said the hunger strike was in line with the death anniversary of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, who was known for his violent resistance to colonial rule. Nevertheless, the protesters said they remain angry at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government.
“The way in which the government is spreading planned lies and violence is condemnable,” reads a statement from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, or United Farmers ‘Front, a coalition of farmers’ unions.
Tens of thousands of farmers have been camping on the outskirts of New Delhi since November, trying to repeal the laws passed in September that they say will benefit large agribusinesses and corporations, destroy the earnings of many farmers and leave those with small plots behind.
Modi and his allies say the laws are necessary to modernize Indian agriculture. Several rounds of talks between the two parties were unsuccessful.
The protests were largely peaceful, but violence erupted on Tuesday, the Republic Day of India, when tens of thousands of farmers riding on tractors and marching on foot knocked out police barricades and stormed the 17th-century Red Fort in New Delhi in a short but shocking takeover.
One of the protesters was killed and nearly 400 police officers were injured. Officials did not say how many farmers were injured, but many were seen bleeding after police beat them with batons and fired tear gas in riots.
Tensions have remained high since then, with sporadic clashes between protesters, police and unidentified groups uttering the slogans against farmers. On Friday, a group of about 200 people, despite great security, entered one protest yard, pelted farmers with stones and damaged their tents.
The group demanded that farmers evacuate the area and said they had “insulted” the national flag during their trekking parade on Republic Day. The farmers claim that the vandals largely consist of members of a Hindu nationalist group that has close ties with the party of Modi.
On Saturday, authorities blocked mobile internet services at three protest sites, a favorable tactic by the Modi government to stop protest marches. The Indian Interior Ministry said internet services would remain suspended until Sunday to maintain public safety.
Agricultural leader Rakesh Tikait said the government was “in error if it felt our movement would be weakened” by suspending the internet.
“The more they try to crush the voice of the farmers, the bigger this movement will become,” Tikait tweeted.
The protests are the biggest challenge for Modi since taking office in 2014, in part because farmers are the most influential voting bloc in the country and an important part of the economy. In a rare show of unity, 16 opposition parties boycotted a parliamentary speech by Ceremonial President Ram Nath Kovind, who hails from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party.
Both sides seem to be more entrenched.
Instead of trying to lower the temperature after Tuesday’s clashes, the government has filed cases against journalists, activists and opposition politicians, accusing them of rioting and violence.
The farmers, meanwhile, have seen their ranks swell by thousands more new protesters since a video of Tikait breaking down in tears as he spoke to reporters was widely shared on social media on Thursday.
‘Our movement gained strength after the Republic Day rally. We have decided that we will not go back, “said Sukhdev Singh, another farmer leader who took part in the hunger strike on Saturday. “If we have to die, we’ll die here.”
___ Shonal Ganguly, video journalist of the Associated Press, contributed to this report.