AMBALA, India, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Indian security forces fired tear gas at protesting farmers for a second day on Wednesday to stop tens of thousands from marching to the capital New Delhi as they demanded higher prices for their produce.
Hundreds of farmers, travelling on trucks and trolleys loaded with food, bedding and other supplies, began marching towards Delhi on Tuesday morning after talks between their unions and the government failed to yield a commitment regarding minimum prices for a range of crops.
The protesters were stopped by security forces at the Shambhu border that divides Punjab and Haryana – the northern states to which most of the protesters belong – almost 200 km (125 miles) from their destination.
“Tear gas shelling has been underway today and will continue until the situation comes under control,” a spokesperson of Haryana police told Reuters.
Images from Indian news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake, showed drones also being used to drop tear gas shells on protesters.
Farmers’ unions, however, said they “have not come to get into a conflict with police”.
“Either the government should accept our demands or democratically give us the right to go to Delhi, but they are not doing either,” Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary of the Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, told reporters.
The government has appealed to farmers to come forward for a discussion regarding their demands, with Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda adding that efforts will continue to speak to them “in a constructive and positive manner”.
A similar year-long protest in 2021 by farmers, a powerful voting bloc, had pushed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to repeal some farm laws and promise to find ways to ensure support prices for all farm produce.
Farmers say the government has been slow on fulfilling the latter promise.
“We will not leave until our demands are accepted because our trust has been betrayed once before…wait and watch, this protest will be on a much larger scale than the one before,” Harjinder Singh, a 53-year-old protester from Punjab’s holy city of Amritsar, told ANI.
The latest protests come with the country months away from a national election where Modi will seek a third term.
Traffic was hit across Delhi’s border regions on Wednesday as police sought to control the situation. On Grand Trunk Road, which connects Delhi to Punjab via Haryana, vehicles were redirected for the last 20 km (12 miles) through meandering, internal roads.
The opposite carriageway, carrying commuters to Delhi, remained deserted, with traffic movement prohibited along its entire 150 km Haryana stretch.
ANI images showed tight security arrangements in other areas bordering the national capital as well, with rows of barricades and cement blocks topped with wire meshing, empty containers, and security forces in riot gear standing ready.
Haryana has also suspended mobile internet services, bulk messaging, and dongle services in several parts of the state until Thursday night, fearing these may be misused to spread “inflammatory material” and “false rumours”.
