He's from Uttar Pradesh and voted for the BJP once in the past, he says. Pagdiwale, the sugarcane farmer, says he's unsure whether Modi's apology is enough to win his vote. Farmers aren't sure whether to forgive the prime minister
If it does, his farm laws may go down in history as the collateral damage of a turnaround that helps Modi solidify even more power. But Modi may be hoping it helps win over farmers in the key states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. "There must have been some deficiency in our efforts that we could not convince some farmers." "I apologize to the people of the country with a true and pure heart," Modi said in a televised speech. 19 speech, Modi called the farmers his "brothers." It bears the hallmark of previous BJP disinformation campaigns, though there is no evidence of a link and the government refused to comment on the report. He wants to make everyone forget this before the elections."Īs the BBC has reported, digital investigators also uncovered a network of fake social media profiles that sought to slander Sikhs and boost the image of the Indian government during the farmers' protests. He called them 'professional agitators.' His ministers called them anti-national, disorderly. " wants to wipe away the very bitter memory the farmers have of his own words. This is catering to the voters of Punjab, which has been the center of the farmers' agitation," Ghosh says. Modi first announced his intention to repeal the laws on Nov. Pro-farmer graffiti on a highway barricade near Ghazipur, where Indian farmers have been camping out for a year, protesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's farm laws. It's also a Sikh-majority state, unlike most of India, which has a Hindu majority. Punjab is known as India's breadbasket, where rice and wheat farmers supply a disproportionate share of the country's food staples. Likewise in Punjab, an opposition-ruled state, the BJP had little hope of making inroads without farmers' votes. "As the elections come closer, I think the government realized that they would have to give in," development economist Jayati Ghosh, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, tells NPR during a recent visit to Delhi. While Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, is the incumbent power in Uttar Pradesh, farmers and observers say the party has been hemorrhaging support in farming areas in southern and western parts of the state. ( Many farmers in other states, by contrast, have not been as involved in the anti-government protests some even quietly supported the farm laws.) Both are agricultural bases where farmers have held huge protest rallies, and where farm unions hold sway. Some see the government's response as a shrewd political moveĮlections are expected in early 2022 in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, and in Punjab, another northern state. The incident became a rallying cry for farmers and their supporters.īut while farmers celebrate their victory this week, analysts say there may be a silver lining for the prime minister, too. In October, the son of one of Modi's government ministers allegedly rammed his father's car into a crowd of farmer protesters, killing four of them. Police charged after them, beating protesters with bamboo rods called lathis and firing tear gas. 26 - Republic Day, a national holiday - protesting farmers broke through police barricades in Delhi and scrambled atop the 17th century Red Fort, waving flags.
While the protesters were overwhelmingly nonviolent, some of their rallies were marred by clashes. Friday marks the first anniversary of the farmer protests. Sparse crowds earlier this week at an assembly of farmer protesters in Ghazipur, eastern Delhi. More than half of Indians - as many as 800 million people - make a living, directly or indirectly, from farming. In response, farmers waged one of the largest civil disobedience campaigns since India won its independence from Britain. But many farmers feared they would cut into their already meager profits and favor big businesses instead.
The government called them much-needed free market reforms.
Passed by parliament in September 2020, the three farm laws sought to deregulate Indian agriculture, lifting government supervision of crop sales and allowing corporations to negotiate directly with farmers. Ambedkar, a Dalit scholar (formerly known as "untouchable") who was the chief author of India's constitution.įarmers mobilized the biggest challenge yet to a popular prime minister's rule The portraits include farmers during the struggle for India's independence, as well as B.R. Portraits of famous Indian social reformers hang on the walls of an assembly tent in Ghazipur, eastern Delhi.