According to police estimates, up to 130,000 protesting farmers and farm workers gathered in the Punjab state of India on Sunday.
This is the latest showdown against the new farm laws that have been taking place across the country for months.
It was one of the largest demonstrations to date.
Tens of thousands of Indian producers have already camped outside Delhi. Opponents of the law say it harms farmers to the benefit of big business.
This farmer at the protest says he wants the laws to be repealed and that “people should be able to afford food.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which introduced the laws last September, offered to postpone the laws but refused to abandon them
He argues that legislation will help farmers get better prices.
Both sides met for several rounds of negotiations, but they failed to make anything.
Farmers’ unions have promised to continue the protests until the laws are rolled back.
On Sunday, at a grain market in Barnala, a city in Punjab, union leaders set out plans to mobilize farmers from across the state and move to a protest site outside Delhi later this month.
Video transcription
– According to police estimates, up to 130,000 protesting farmers and farm workers gathered in the Punjab state of India on Sunday. This is the latest showdown against the new farm laws that have been taking place across the country for months. It was one of the largest demonstrations to date. Tens of thousands of Indian producers have already camped outside Delhi.
Opponents of the law say it harms farmers to the benefit of big business. This farmer at the protest says he wants the laws to be repealed, and that the people, according to the quote, ‘should be able to afford food.’ The government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who introduced the laws last September, offered to postpone the laws but refused to abandon them. He argues that legislation will help farmers get better prices.
Both sides met for several rounds of negotiations, but they failed to make anything. Farmers’ unions have promised to continue the protests until the laws are rolled back. On Sunday, at a grain market in Barnala, a city in Punjab, union leaders set out plans to mobilize farmers from across the state and move to a protest site outside Delhi later this month.