DM Monitoring
NEW DELHI: Tens of thousands of farmers in India have observed a “Black Day” across the country to mark six months of their protests against farm laws passed by the Indian government last year.
The farmers held demonstrations, raised black flags and burned effigies of politicians belonging to the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at several places across the country.
“We are observing a Black Day,” Abhimanyu Kohar, a member of Sankyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of more than 40 farmers’ unions jointly holding the protests, told Media.
“Farmers across the country are raising black flags on their homes, tractors and other vehicles. As part of our protest, we are also burning an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi across the country for failing to address our issues.”
In September last year, Modi’s government passed three laws, saying they would collectively provide farmers better marketing options for their produce and break the monopoly of commission agents and government-regulated marketplaces known as “mandis”.
The farmers however say the laws are aimed at providing the private corporations with more control over the vast agriculture sector and will leave them at the mercy of these corporations who will have no legal obligation to pay them the guaranteed price any more. “We won’t relent until these anti-farmer laws are rolled back,” said Sar Singh, a 40-year-old farmer protesting at Singhu border, the main site of the six-month protest outside the Indian capital, New Delhi.
Singh, who belongs to Tarn Taran Sahib city in the northern state of Punjab, has been protesting at Singhu with his brother since the farmers began their sit-in in late November last year. He says he is determined to stay until the government is forced to reverse the legislation. “We are ready to protest for many more months. We will leave for our homes only when our demands are met,” he told Media.
