Indian opposition leader demands repeal of farm laws after weeks of massive protests

India's main opposition party has pressed the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call a special parliamentary session to withdraw controversial agricultural reform laws that have sparked massive protest across the country over the past weeks.  

“I want to tell the PM that these farmers are not going to go back home until these farm laws are repealed. The government should convene a joint session of Parliament and take back these laws. Opposition parties stand with farmers and laborers,” Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader from the opposition Congress party, said of the ongoing protest.

Gandhi made the remarks on Thursday after handing Indian President Ram Nath Kovind a copy of a petition that he said had attracted 20 million signatures online against the new laws. 

The opposition leader also piled up pressure on the premier by accusing his government of watching the interests of a specific class of businessmen and capitalists.  

"The prime minister wants to help two, three business people" by introducing the farm laws, Gandhi said. 

The Indian farmers, mainly from the Sikh-dominated Punjab and neighboring Haryana, have blocked highways into New Delhi for the past three weeks.

The farmers, many in their sixties or above, have been braving harsh winter in the north to camp out in the open with their tractors and trailers parked bumper to bumper. 

More than 30 protesters have died in recent weeks, mainly due to the cold with temperatures falling to 4 degree Celsius. 

Indian farm widows join protests against agriculture reforms

Farmers have been protesting for nearly a month over the reforms enacted in September.

On Sunday, Modi made a surprise visit to a historic Sikh temple in New Delhi to soothe the situation. But people want him to also visit the site of a protest on the suburbs of New Delhi, where the farmers have set up makeshift camps.

In September, Modi’s government passed three laws that it says are meant to overhaul procurement procedures and grant farmers more options to sell their products. 

The farmers say the proposed amendments will create an opportunity for large private companies to enter and exploit the entire agriculture sector.

Modi has invited the farmers for more talks after several rounds of negotiation failed to break the standoff.

Farmers union leaders have accused the government of trying to weaken and discredit them by describing protesting farmers as "anti-nationals". 

"You are dealing with protesting farmers in a manner as if they are not aggrieved citizens but political rivals," Samyukta Kisan Morcha, or United Farmers' Front, a coalition of farmers unions, said in a letter addressed to the farm ministry on Thursday. 

"Farmers would be compelled to intensify their agitation further for their survival if the government continued to treat them in this manner," the letter said. 

People in several other countries have also been protesting in solidarity with the Indian farmers. 

The newly-passed laws could have a significant impact on consumers globally as reliance on India for spices such as turmeric, chili and ginger cannot be taken for granted. 

Indian farmers protest near capital, as deadlock continues over agricultural laws with government

Tens of thousands of farmers continue to protest against new agricultural laws near New Delhi.

India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices in the globe. 

It is also the leading exporter of Basmati rice and the world's largest milk producer, according to the country's Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority.  

More than half of India's working population comes from the agricultural sector, according to the most recent census in 2011. 

A 2017 study found that suicides of nearly 60,000 Indian farmers had been linked to rising temperatures and the resultant stress on India’s agricultural sector over the past 30 years.

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