Modi to repeal farm laws after year of protests

[Kooky]

Indian PM Narendra Modi to repeal farm laws after year of protests

Some selected quotes from the Grauniad:

Indian PM Narendra Modi to repeal farm laws after year of protests

Narendra Modi has announced he will repeal three contentious farm laws that prompted a year of protests and unrest in India, in one of the most significant concessions made by his government.

In a huge victory for India’s farmers, who had fought hard for the repeal of what they called the “black laws”, the prime minister announced in an address on Friday morning that “we have taken the laws back”.

“We have decided to repeal all three farm laws. We will start the constitutional process to repeal all the three laws in the parliament session that starts at the end of this month,” said Modi, in a surprise announcement.

After the government refused to repeal the laws last year, hundreds of thousands of farmers marched to Delhi’s borders, met on the way with barricades, teargas and water cannon, and set up protest camps along the main highways into the capital.

Tens of thousands of farmers have remained at the several camps around Delhi borders ever since, maintaining one of the most sustained challenges to the Modi government, even through the harsh winters, baking summers and the brutal second wave of Covid-19. They found support in huge swathes of India, as well as internationally, with figures including Rihanna and Greta Thunberg speaking out in support of their actions, much to the chagrin of the government. The protests turned violent in February when the farmers stormed into the centre of Delhi and briefly took over the historic Red Fort in the old city centre.

The government had made concerted efforts to crush the farmer protest movement over the past year. Farmers and supportive activists were arrested and police made several threats to clear the protest camps around Delhi, before briefly resorting to barricading in the farmers with concrete barriers and spikes. Those leading the protests were regularly cast as terrorists and anti-nationals conspiring against India.

After several rounds of negotiations failed, the government agreed to suspend the laws earlier this year, but the farmers, who have the backing of powerful unions, said they would not budge until the laws were repealed entirely.

I'm glad to see such massive collective action on part of the working class succeed, and under a regime like Modi's at that. A recent Guardian opinion piece calls it a 'triumph of democracy' and I'm kind of inclined to agree so far.

With that said, I'm curious as to the reaction of our Indian posters here, who would be among the people directly affected by the strike and its ultimate consequences after all.