Indian PM defends reforms as protests grow

World

Published: 2020-12-18 21:09

Last Updated: 2024-03-26 05:52


Photo: BBC
Photo: BBC

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday defended his government, which he said was the victim of "lying and conspiracy," as it struggled to defuse mounting protests by tens of thousands of farmers threatening to encircle New Delhi.

As more protesters gather at the entrances to the capital every day, Modi has stepped up efforts to quell unrest sparked by farmers angry against agrarian reform laws.

Protesters have been blocking main roads to Delhi for more than three weeks to protest laws that enable them to sell products in duty-free markets instead of selling them only through state-run agencies that guarantee a minimum price. 

Farmers have demanded that laws they say call for companies to control food production.

The protesters are so far mainly from the states of northern India.

But a union in the central state of Maharashtra said Friday that thousands of members would join the protesters.

Union leaders say they will continue to protest even as the new year enters, and have set up tents for protesters to cope with the bitter cold.

They threatened to paralyze the capital with a massive agricultural tractor demonstration on January 26, when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was a special guest at the annual Republic Day celebrations.

Modi said in a videoconference to a farmer group that opposition parties have taken advantage of the protests, despite their support for rural reforms.

He said the government's opponents "are spreading lies for their own political gain. They are using the farmers' shoulders to shoot their rifles."

He noted that the allegations of ending the minimum prices are just part of "lying and conspiracy."

"I just want to make farmers' lives easier," Moody said.

Economists say there is a need to reform and modernize the rural sector, which provides jobs for about 70 percent of India's 1.3 billion people, but contributes only about 15 percent to the $ 2.7 trillion economy.

But farm incomes have stagnated in recent decades, farmers face a mounting debt crisis and farmers' leaders say the reforms will only benefit the large companies that will be allowed to buy the produce.

Five rounds of talks between the concerned ministers and the unions failed to achieve a breakthrough.