In Haryana, the alliance between the BJP and the local party JPP is under strain. The state governments of Rajasthan and Punjab, led by the Indian National Congress, support the protests, mainly on the basis of political calculations and not as a challenge to the free market policy of the BJP. They received less support in Punjab due to the Sikh people’s historical mistrust of Hindu nationalists. In the 2019 national elections, the BJP reached 58% in Haryana and Rajasthan. ![]() The farmers’ protest is taking place in northern India, including in states where the BJP is strong. The government denies that this is the plan, but little faith is placed in it. Once the market is liberalized, the minimum support price (MSP) will undoubtedly disappear. The average annual income of farming families in more than half of the Indian states was only 20,000 rupees (€225) in 2016. “We will lose our land and our income if large companies set the prices,” as one farmer put it to a BBC reporter. The new laws open the door for large companies and threaten to put further pressure on the farmers’ incomes. The government controlled prices and production. Previously, all farmers placed their products on the fixed market in their region, where there were price agreements with minimum prices for many products. From now on it will be possible to produce outside the government-controlled “mandi system”. ![]() In September, the government introduced three laws to liberalize agriculture. Under the slogan “Dilli Challo” (“to Delhi”), thousands of farmers went to the Indian capital to protest against government measures that hit agriculture hard. Moreover, the anti-Chinese stance keeps India outside the Asian trade agreement Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Covid-19 and its chaotic approach will cause a severe contraction in 2020 in a global economy characterized by increasing tensions. The economy has been under pressure for a while: growth fell from 8.26% in 2016 to 5.02% in 2019 (calculated from the second quarter of 2019 until the first quarter of 2020). Together with Hindu nationalism, however, there was a continuation of neoliberal reforms that hit workers and farmers hard. When Modi was first elected in 2014, the broad support for the BJP was based on hope for economic progress for the majority of the population. ![]() At the same time, on November 26, there was a colossal general strike with 250 million participants. A well-organized farmers’ protest keeps the capital Delhi in its grip. The protest against the Hindu nationalist regime of Narendra Modi of the BJP is growing to phenomenal proportions. Farmers gesture as they block a national highway during a protest against farm bills passed by India's parliament, in Shambhu in the northern state of Punjab, India, September 25, 2020.
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