Farmers gather in Indian capital to press for pending demands

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) – Thousands of farmers on Monday gathered in the Indian national capital New Delhi against what they said were unfulfilled promises by the Indian government.

A large number of farmers from different states reached the Ramlila Maidan ground to press for their demands, according to Samyukt Kisan Morcha – an umbrella body of farmers that organized Monday’s “Kisan Maha Panchayat” or farmers’ grand meeting.

“Our promised demands remain unfulfilled till date. Today, farmers from different states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, reached Delhi in support," Shingara Singh Mann, a farm leader from the northern Punjab state told Anadolu.

Punjab is considered as the food bowl of India and the states from which the farmers travelled to are important in terms of agricultural contribution.

In December 2021, farmers called off a year-long protest after the government conceded to several of their demands, including repealing the new farm laws, which were brought in by the government.

According to the farm leaders, their demands like the government guarantee a minimum support price for all produce, clear all farmer debts, among others, have not been fulfilled yet.

On Monday, a group of farm leaders also met Indian Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar for their demands.

Tomar wrote on Twitter that a delegation of farmer leaders met him in New Delhi and “gave a memorandum regarding their demands.”

Darshan Pal, a senior farm leader, told the farmers after the meeting that if their demands are not met sooner, they will be forced to launch a bigger protest in the coming months.

Last week, another batch of farmers staged protests in Delhi to press their demands including loan waivers and minimum support prices.

This week, thousands of farmers in the western Indian state of Maharashtra also marched towards India's financial capital Mumbai over demands of waiver of farm loans, relief for onion growers hurt by the price crash, among others. The march was called off on Saturday after the state government held meetings with farmers.

In August last year as well, farmers from different states reached to Delhi to press for their long pending demands.