Just over three years ago, Indian farmers mobilized in one of the biggest social movements the country has seen for decades, and delivered a significant blow to the government of Narendra Modi. Since the beginning of this year, they have resumed their protest campaign.

An umbrella organization of farmers’ unions from the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh issued a call for a “Dilli Chalo” march to Delhi in February. The farmers faced heavy-handed state repression at the Punjab-Haryana border. One twenty-three-year-old farmer, Shubhakaran Singh from Punjab, succumbed to a head injury that he received while advancing toward Delhi.

The Dilli Chalo call was spearheaded by two groups, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM). SKM (Non-Political) is a breakaway faction from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a collective front of farmers’ unions across the country that led the farmers’ movement in 2020–21. On February 23, the SKM itself joined the ongoing call for protests.