The confrontation took place just over 200 km north of the capital as about 100 farmers, most from the northern breadbasket state, attempted to resume their ‘Delhi Chalo’ (Let’s go to Delhi) march, blocked since February.

Farmers broke through one layer of police barricades only to find security forces waiting behind iron crowd control barriers. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Farmers’ leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said before the march got under way that it would go as far as security forces allowed.

“We will be only around 100 people so it is not like we can break police barricades,” Pandher said.

The farmers are demanding legal guarantees of more state support for crops and a debt waiver, and say the government must honour a promise to double their incomes.

They have been camped at Shambhu on Punjab’s border with neighbouring Haryana state since February, when police halted their march.

The Haryana government on Friday suspended mobile internet and bulk text message services in some places until Dec. 9 to “stop the spread of misinformation and rumours”, and police said “sufficient force” had been deployed to maintain law and order.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government did not comment on Friday’s protests, but Haryana senior minister Anil Vij, who is from Modi’s party, said the farmers would need to secure permission if they wanted to proceed to Delhi.

Modi’s government was forced to repeal some farm laws in 2021 after a year-long protest by farmers when they camped outside Delhi for months.

A spokesperson for India’s main opposition Congress party said it “fully supports” the farmers’ demands.

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The rally, days before general elections are expected to be called in an exercise that will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi seek a rare third term, comes a month after police wielding tear gas and water cannons halted a farmers’ march outside New Delhi.

“Through this meeting, we want to show government authorities that we are not too far from reaching our goals,” Darshan Pal, of a farmers’ group, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), told news agency ANI.

“We can surround Delhi whenever we want.”

There was no immediate comment from the government or Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but they have said in the past they are committed to the welfare and prosperity of farmers, who form an influential voting bloc.

Groups of farmers listened to their leaders’ speeches while intermittently chanting slogans against Modi and his government, which had stopped the Feb. 13 march at a spot about 200 km (125 miles) from New Delhi, at which the farmers camped.

Police threw up barricades, tightened security, and warned of traffic congestion in preparation for Thursday’s rally at the capital’s Ramlila Maidan, a popular site for gatherings.

Farmers from states such as Maharashtra in the west and Odisha in the east were undeterred by the high turnout of police and paramilitary.

“This is a one-day event meant to serve as a reminder to Modi government of their unfulfilled promises,” said Narendra Singh, a farmer from the northern state of Haryana.

Farmers say the Modi government had committed in 2021 to set up a panel to find ways of ensuring support prices for all produce but had been going slow on it.

They also want the government to honour a promise to double their incomes and act against a federal minister whose son was arrested during similar protests in 2021 after being accused of running over and killing four protesters.

Concessions before elections

“Our main demand is a legally guaranteed minimum support price,” said 39-year-old Utpal Biswas, from the eastern state of West Bengal. “Today’s protest is supposed to last for a day but we will see how it progresses.”

With the elections due by May, allowing the farmers to gather in the capital, even though under strict conditions meant to ensure public order, is seen as a concession from the government which has blocked them outside the city in the past.

“Today is an important day because the government has finally come under pressure from farmers and farmer groups,” Jairam Ramesh, a spokesperson of the main opposition Congress party, told ANI.

“In the end, they have got permission for a gathering (in Delhi).”

Farmers say at least one protester has died in clashes with police over the last month and dozens more have been injured.

Modi suffered his biggest political defeat two years ago, when a similar year-long protest forced him to repeal some farm reforms.

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Thousands of farmers, mostly from the northern state of Punjab, launched a “Delhi Chalo” (Let’s go to Delhi) march last month demanding higher guaranteed prices for their produce but were stopped by police about 200 km (125 miles) north of the capital.

Protest leaders had planned to resume the protest on Wednesday, urging farmers across India to head for the capital by bus and train since their tractors had been blocked and tear gas and water cannon used to disperse them.

Farmers started moving towards Delhi but had been stopped by police in some states, said a statement from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), or United Farmers’ Front, one of the two groups leading the protests.

Fifty farmers from one district in the northern state of Rajasthan were taken into custody on Tuesday night while others travelling to Delhi by train from the same state were detained at a police station on Wednesday, farmer leaders told reporters.

Rajasthan police denied detaining any farmers.

“We have not detained anybody in relation to the farmers’ agitation. There has been no mass movement from here in relation to the protest,” Utkal Ranjan Sahoo, Rajasthan’s police chief, told Reuters.

Farmers from other central and northern states are expected to arrive in Delhi on Thursday, said another protest leader, Ramandeep Singh Mann.

Farmer groups from southern and western India also said they were preparing to join the protests.

“The farmers remain determined to enter the city. Their resolve to fight for their rights has only strengthened in the face of obstacles,” Mann said.

The protests come weeks before national elections in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a rare third term.

A similar but larger protest two years ago, which saw farmers from more groups camped at Delhi’s borders for months, forced Modi to repeal some farm reform laws in his biggest political defeat.

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Thousands of farmers began a ‘Delhi Chalo’ (Let’s go to Delhi) march last week but were stopped by security forces about 200 km (125 miles) north of the capital, with water cannons and teargas being used to push them back.

Farmer leaders on Thursday announced a series of “mega programmes” across India to press their demands. The “Black Day” on Friday will be followed by a tractor rally on highways on Feb. 26, and a farm workers’ public meeting in Delhi on March 14.

Black flags were hoisted on tractors and trolleys lined up at the protest site on Friday. Several protesters, most of whom are Sikhs from the northern state of Punjab, also tied black cloth over their turbans in solidarity.

Farmers also burnt effigies also of Home (interior) Minister Amit Shah and the chief minister of Haryana state, whose police force they accuse of using force against them, and chanted slogans demanding minimum prices for their crops.

A general election is due by May.

Protestor’s death

The farmers paused their march for two days on Wednesday after the death of a protester, which they blamed on police aggression.

Sartaj Singh, a senior police officer in Punjab’s Sangrur district, where the incident took place, said the man died at a protest site but that the cause of his death would be known only after the autopsy.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday announced compensation of 10 million rupees (C$162,800) for the dead man’s family.

Farmer leaders rejected the compensation and said they would not allow the autopsy to be conducted until a murder case is registered.

“We will have a meeting in the evening to decide next steps (regarding the march),” farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher told reporters.

Amnesty International condemned the protester’s death and urged the government to “respect, protect and facilitate the right to freedom of peaceful assembly”.

“The price of protest must not be death,” said Aakar Patel, chair of board at Amnesty International India.

Nihang Sikh warriors join protest

Protesting farmers have come under the protection of the Nihang Sikhs, a warrior sect dating back to the 1600s distinguished by their ink-blue robes and ancient weapons such as swords and spears.

The farmers are also mainly Sikhs and who hail from the northern state of Punjab.

After the farmers paused protests, Wednesday, following a demonstrator’s death, Nihang warriors honed their skills by practicing fencing, horseback riding and meditating while they waited for the march to resume.

Easily distinguishable by their flowing robes and matching turbans, several Nihangs say they joined the march to “protect” the farmers.

“Guru Gobind Singh has preached that Sikhs must always be ready to fight injustice and oppression,” said Sher Singh, one of the Nihangs referring to the spiritual leader of the Sikhs.

“We have to be prepared if these protesters face any trouble even in the middle of the night.”

India’s minority Sikh community makes for more than half of Punjab’s 30 million population, and the Nihangs took part in a similar, year-long farmers’ protest in 2021.

–Additional reporting for Reuters by Rupam Jain.

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