In the Cold and Rain, India’s Farmers Press Their Stand Against Modi – By Mujib Mashal and Karan Deep Singh

….For six weeks now, tens of thousands of farmers have choked the city’s four main entry points. They are challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has crushed all other opposition and stands as the country’s dominant political force, over his effort to reshape how farming in India has been done for decades. The protests have snarled business across northern India at a time when the country’s economy is already ailing.

The protesters are demanding that Mr. Modi repeal recent farming laws that would minimize the government’s role in agriculture and open more space for private investors. The government says the new laws will unshackle farmers and private investment, bringing growth. 

Farmers are skeptical, fearing that the removal of state protections they already consider insufficient will leave them at the mercy of corporate greed…. Despite the size of the crowd, and the chaos of so many people surviving in the cold and mud, the protesters try to stay calm, wary of provocations that might give the government a pretext to discredit the movement or crack down in the name of law and order….

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/world/asia/india-farmers-protest.html