The farmers’ movement at the border points of New Delhi is entering the 85th day today. Thousands of farmers, especially from Punjab and Haryana, with many others from Rajasthan, UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, MP, TN, Kerala, Maharashtra, and others are staging a sit-in protest along Delhi borders. The protest started on November 26, 2020. The farmers are demanding a complete rollback of the new farm- laws and a guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system being retained.

Also See: An overview of Farmers’ protests-role of Charan Singh

Multiple rounds of talks between the Centre and the farmers’ union-leaders have ended in a stalemate. Protesting farmers fear that the new laws will dismantle the MSP system and corporatize farming. The Supreme Court had earlier ordered a stay on the implementation of these contentious laws, hoping it will end the protest. The farm-union leaders have also rejected Centre’s proposal to suspend implementation of the laws for 18 months. On January 26, the protest turned violent when some farmers deviated from a pre-decided route for their Republic Day tractor rally and clashed with police. Some protesters scaled the ramparts of the Red Fort. Several protestors and police personnel were injured in the ensuing clashes. The farmers’ unions also held a ‘chakka jam’ on February 6 where they blocked national and state highways to protest the internet ban in areas near their agitation sites and harassment allegedly meted out to them by authorities, among other issues.