By Alasdair Pal
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said protesters storming the New Fort of New Delhi had caused the country ‘insult’, his first public comment on a month-long farmers’ agitation week became violent.
Tens of thousands of farmers have been camping on the outskirts of the capital for more than two months, protesting against new agricultural laws that they say benefit private buyers at the expense of producers.
A tractor parade on Tuesday’s Republic Day turned violent when some protesters deviated from the pre-agreed routes, clashed with police and broke into the historic Red Fort complex in the capital. One was killed and hundreds injured.
“The country was saddened by the insult of the Tricolor (Indian flag) on January 26 in Delhi,” Modi said in a radio address on Sunday.
“The government is committed to modernizing agriculture and is also taking many steps in that direction.”
Farm leaders say they were not responsible for violence, which was caused by a minority of the parade, and the government has left open the possibility that talks between the two parties will resume.
Modi told opposition party leaders on Saturday that an offer to freeze the laws for 18 months was according to a government summary of the assembly.
Agriculture employs about half of India’s workforce, and unrest among the estimated 150 million farmers is expected to be one of the biggest challenges for Modi’s government since coming to power in 2014.
(This story is corrected with last week, not this week, in the first paragraph)
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal; Edited by Sam Holmes)