India Holds Hundreds of Farmers Amid Police Crackdown on Protests

In Punjab, a northern state of India, police detained hundreds of farmers and demolished their makeshift camps in a border area where they had been protesting for over a year, demanding improved prices for their crops.

The protestors had established a presence at the border with Haryana since February of the previous year, following security forces’ obstruction of their march toward New Delhi, where they sought legal guarantees for increased state support for agricultural products.

“No force was necessary as there was no resistance,” stated Nanak Singh, a senior police official, regarding the eviction operation that took place Wednesday night. “The farmers cooperated and boarded the buses on their own,” he added.

According to Singh, the farmers had been informed in advance about the operation.

Television footage captured police using heavy machinery to dismantle tents and stages while guiding farmers with their personal belongings to waiting vehicles.

Reports indicated that among those arrested were prominent farmer leaders Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, the latter of whom required medical assistance due to his prolonged hunger strike.

“While the government is engaging in talks with farmer groups, it simultaneously arrests their leaders,” Rakesh Tikait, spokesperson for the farmer organization Bhartiya Kisan Union, remarked on social media platform X.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab, which sanctioned the eviction, expressed continued support for the farmers’ demands but urged them to address their concerns with the central government. “Let’s collaborate to protect the interests of Punjab,” stated Tarunpreet Singh Sond, the party’s vice president in the state, emphasizing that blocking essential roadways negatively impacts the state’s economy. “Shutting down highways isn’t a solution.”

In 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration was compelled to repeal certain agricultural laws following a year of protests from farmers who had camped outside Delhi for months.

Federal officials met with farmer leaders on Wednesday, according to Fatehjung Singh Bajwa, vice president of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Punjab. “This arrest appears to be a calculated move to stall the ongoing dialogue between farmers and BJP leadership,” he expressed in a post on X.