NEW DELHI, Nov 28 (Reuters) - India deployed hundreds of
police and paramilitary forces at a New Delhi border on Saturday
as thousands of farmers from neighbouring states blocked major
roads into the capital, in protest against recent agricultural
deregulation.
A day after clashes ended with an agreement that the farmers
could demonstrate in the capital, tensions rose again in the
protests over laws that farmers fear could rob them of minimum
guaranteed prices for their produce.
Farmers who arrived in trucks, buses and tractors at Delhi's
Singhu border with Haryana state on Friday, blocked the main
northern highway into the capital on Saturday morning, chanting
slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and
waved the red, yellow and green flags of farmer's unions.
They appeared ready for a long sit-in and refused to
relocate to a designated protest site, raising fears of fresh
clashes between security forces and protesters.
On Friday, police fired tear gas and water cannons to
disperse the protesters before letting them march into the
capital and stage a protest at a designated site.
Both security forces and farmers have installed barricades
to prevent a repeat of Friday's clashes.
Harbhajan Singh, 75, from Amritsar in the major northern
farming state of Punjab, said he and others were carrying
provisions and were prepared to camp out.
"We have been harassed by the government. We want a special
parliament session for withdrawal of the new farm laws," Singh
said, adding he hopes farmers from other states will join the
protests to pressure on the government.
Opposition Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi also slammed
the government.
"Our slogan was, 'Hail the Soldier, Hail the Farmer,' but
today PM Modi's arrogance made the soldier stand against the
farmer. This is very dangerous," Gandhi tweeted in reaction to a
photo of a policeman attempting to hit a farmer with a baton.
Modi's laws, enacted in September, let farmers sell their
produce anywhere, including to big corporate buyers like Walmart
Inc, not just at government-regulated wholesale markets
where growers are assured of a minimum procurement price.
But many small growers worry they will be left vulnerable to
big business and could eventually lose the price supports for
key staples such as wheat and rice.
The government says there is no plan to eliminate wholesale
markets and that farmers have the choice of buyers. It hopes the
deregulation attracts agricultural investment and fixes supply
chains that lose one-fourth of India's produce to wastage.
(Reporting by Danish Siddiqui; Writing by Nidhi Verma; Editing
by Euan Rocha and William Mallard)