By Adnan Abidi and Jatindra Dash
KUNDLI, India (Reuters) – Thousands of farmers across India blocked roads on Saturday with temporary tents, tractors, trucks and rocks to push the government to put back agricultural reforms that caused months of protests.
While the initial protests were started by rice and wheat farmers from northern India who camped on the outskirts of New Delhi, protests spread across the country, especially in states not ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party.
The federal government has offered concessions to farmers, but refuses to repeal three laws passed last year that they say are vital to making new investments in the sector, accounting for nearly 15% of the Indian economy of $ 2 , 9 billion and about half of its workforce.
Farmers are afraid that the reforms will leave them to large corporate buyers, which will eventually put an end to the current practice of insured government purchases.
Saturday’s three-hour ‘chakka jam’, or roadblock, started around noon across the country, except in New Delhi and a few neighboring states. The protests were largely held on national and state roads, but in most cities it was as usual.
Avik Saha, a secretary of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordinating Committee, an umbrella organization of farmers’ groups, said about 10,000 places in India were blocked within three hours.
“The chakka jam of today has clearly shown the government that this is a protest in India,” Saha said in a video address on Periscope.
On a highway near the capital, some farmers smoked water pipes while songs were played on a loudspeaker.
Farmers crouched on the road in the eastern state of Odisha and Karnataka in the south with flags and banners protesting against the laws. Some carried posters urging the government not to treat them as enemies.
“Farmers across the country are united against this and we will continue to stand together until the black laws are repealed,” Dilbag Singh, a 65-year-old farmer protesting in Kundli near the Delhi border, told Reuters.
‘MAXIMUM LIMIT’
Tens of thousands of farmers brave the winter of New Delhi by sleeping in the open on national highways for months. Their protests were mostly peaceful, but a tractor march on January 26 erupted in turmoil when some farmers clashed with police.
Authorities have since shut down mobile internet in parts of the national capital, blocking border roads to prevent protesters from re-entering the city.
“The right to peaceful assembly and expression must be protected both offline and online,” the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Twitter, urging authorities and protesters to exercise ‘maximum control’.
“It is crucial to find equitable solutions with the necessary respect for #HumanRights for all.”
The issue has also attracted international attention by celebrities such as pop star Rihanna and environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg who have voiced their support to the farmers. The United States also called on India to resume talks with the farmers.
(Reporting by Adnan Abidi in Kundli and Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneshwar; Additional reporting and writing by Abhirup Roy; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christina Fincher)