India’s Farmers’ Struggle Against Modi’s Government Is Far From Over
Last year, farmers in India blocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s neoliberal agricultural reforms through a wave of protests. But the economic woes that fueled the unrest continue to hammer farmers, leading to sky-high suicide rates.
Jubilant farmers at the borders of Delhi, India, in December 2020. (Kabir Agarwal)
On a very pleasantly cool and sunny Delhi afternoon last December, farmers were preparing to finally go back to their homes from the borders of India’s national capital where they had been stationed for over a year protesting three new agricultural laws brought in undemocratically by India’s authoritarian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
“We have defeated Modi,” said Sartaj Singh as he danced to some popular local music. He is a farmer with eight acres of land in his village in Punjab, about 400 kilometers away from the spot on a major national highway that protesters had blocked for over a year.
A few days earlier, Modi had apologized to farmers and announced that his government would repeal the laws whose introduction had led to the protests. This was a rare moment of humility from a leader not well known for making concessions. Modi and his team made this decision because they knew they would face repercussions in the important upcoming state elections if the protests continued.
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