NEW DELHI (AP) – Leaders of a protest movement on Wednesday tried to distance themselves from a day of violence when thousands of farmers stormed India’s historic Red Fort, the most dramatic moment in two months of protests that have grown into a great challenge of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Farmers demanding the repeal of new agricultural legislation took over the 17th-century fort briefly and images broadcast live on television shocked the country. In a particularly daring reprimand to the Hindu nationalist government of Modi, the protesters hoisted a Sikh religious flag.
At least one protester died, and several protesters were injured, as were more than 390 police officers, and there are concerns that the violence could undermine the protest movement, which has so far been largely peaceful and growing in power.
Police said 19 people were arrested and 50 others were detained for questioning.
The farmers – many of them minority Sikhs from the main agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana – are demanding that new laws that they believe will benefit large corporate farms destroy the earnings of many farmers by lowering price support and abandoning those who have small plots. . behind if big corporations win.
The government insists the laws will benefit farmers and promote production through private investment, but in light of protests, he has offered to suspend them for 18 months. The farmers want nothing less than a complete recall.
On Tuesday, more than 10,000 tractors and thousands more people marched into the capital on foot or by horseback, setting up barricades and buses, blocking their way and sometimes meeting police with tear gas and water cannons.
“The situation is now normal. The protesters left the streets of the capital, “said Anto Alphonse, a police officer in New Delhi, on Wednesday morning.
Hundreds of police are now patrolling the fort as farmers return to their camp on the outskirts of the capital, where they have been rushing since November when they last tried to march to New Delhi. Because they did not get through the winter cold and rain, they said they would stay until the farm laws were repealed.
The protesting farmer groups would meet later Wednesday to discuss future action. Another march is planned for February 1 when the Modi government is due to present the annual budget in parliament.
As the protest marches became stronger, they rattled the government like never before as they form the most influential voting bloc in India and are also of cardinal importance to its economy. Political analyst Arti Jerath said violence on Tuesday could dampen their power.
“The Supreme Court has been saying all along that the farmers can continue the protest without disrupting life in New Delhi,” she said. “Tuesday’s development gave the government the chance to go to the high court and say this is exactly what it feared would become violent.”
Cracks appeared in the protest movement on Wednesday when a former convener of the farmers’ umbrella organization distanced himself from the group after Tuesday’s violent clashes.
VM Singh said he was ready to hold talks with the government on legislation guaranteeing a minimum aid price for wheat and rice. He said he no longer wanted to repeal the three new laws.
Protest organizer Samyukt Kisan Morcha, of United Farmers’ Front, tried to distance the movement from the violence and accused two outsiders of sabotage by infiltrating their movement.
“Even if it was a sabotage, we cannot escape responsibility,” said Yogendra Yadav, another protest leader.
Yadav said that frustration had built up among the protesting farmers and asked, “How can you control this if the government is not serious about what they have been demanding for two months?”
Several roads were closed again near police headquarters and Connaught Place, a shopping area near government offices, on Wednesday after a protest by some retired police officers in Delhi demanding that the protesting farmers who are engaging in violence be prosecuted, the Press Trust or India News Agency. said.
Since coming to power again for a second term, the Modi government has been shocked by several convulsions. The pandemic sent India’s already faltering economy into a recession, escalated social disputes and its government was questioned about the response to the coronavirus pandemic. India last suffered a recession in 1979-80 after an oil shock.
In addition, India saw an increasing tide of Hindu nationalism among Modi, which led minority groups to rank. In 2019, the year that saw the first major protests against his administration, a diverse coalition of groups rallied against a controversial new citizenship law that, according to Muslims, discriminates.
Anger is now also starting to increase among Sikhs, although the farmers’ protest actions are mainly driven by economic factors. India is predominantly Hindu, while Muslims make up 14% and Sikhs almost 2% of the nearly 1.4 billion people.
“The government on the national security front has failed. “I think this government seems to be quite frustrated by the kind of security challenges it is creating for itself by alienating minority communities, Muslims and Sikhs,” said Jerath, the political analyst.
Tuesday’s escalation overshadowed Republic Day celebrations, including the annual military parade already scaled back due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Neeraja Choudhury, a political analyst, said the government could not expect what was to come, and had adequately prepared for it. “If the farmers in India are excited, you cannot dismiss the protests as an opposition inciting the farmers.”
Police said the protesting farmers away from the approved protest routes and violence and vandalism use. Anil Kumar, a police spokesperson, said more than 300 police personnel were injured in clashes. Several jumped into the fort area in a deep dry drain to escape the protesters who surpassed them in several places.
Police said one protester was killed after his tractor overturned, but farmers said he was shot. Several bloodied protesters were seen in television footage, but it is not known how many were injured.
Thirty police vehicles and hundreds of metal barriers were damaged by the protesters, police said.