Indian police fired tear gas as protesting farmers marched towards the capital

New Delhi: Indian security forces fired tear gas on Tuesday (February 13) to stop thousands of farmers demanding minimum crop prices from marching in the capital New Delhi after talks with the government failed.

Local broadcasters showed thick clouds of tear gas being fired to disperse protesters near Ambala, about 200 km north of the capital.

Police have erected fearsome blockades of metal nails, cement and steel barricades on highways leading to the capital from the three surrounding states.

“Maximum numbers have been deployed,” Delhi Police assistant commissioner Ranjay Atrishya told AFP.

Public gatherings of more than five people have been banned in the capital.

Farmers in India wield political clout due to their numbers and are at risk of renewed protests ahead of national elections starting in April.

According to government data, two-thirds of India’s 1.4 billion people make their living from agriculture, which accounts for about one-fifth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Indian broadcasters showed a convoy of hundreds of tractors moving towards the capital from nearby states such as Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Apart from fixing the minimum price for their crops, farmers are demanding a law to provide other concessions including loan waiver.

Farmers have called for “Dilli Chalo” or “March to Delhi”, echoing protests in January 2021 when farmers broke barricades and marched into the city on Republic Day.

Farmers’ protests in November 2020 against the farm reform bills that have lasted for more than a year have posed the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government since it came to power in 2014.

Thousands of farmers then set up temporary camps, leading to at least 700 deaths during the protests.

In November 2021, a year after the protests began, Modi pushed through Parliament to repeal three controversial laws that farmers claimed would give private companies control over the country’s agriculture sector.

Every year thousands of Indian farmers commit suicide due to poverty, debt and crops affected by the erratic weather patterns caused by climate change.