The full throttled roar of thousands of tractors that disrupted India’s Republic Day rally in New Delhi on 26 January only began to be properly heard across the world when the likes of Rihanna and Greta Thunberg asked why we weren’t talking about the historic farmers’ strike, which began in August 2020. In November when 250 million people joined industrial and agricultural workers in a general strike, to call for the repeal of anti-worker labour codes and farm laws, it barely registered internationally.
But, for once, the seasons are with the farmers in India. There is nothing more dangerous to a government than strikers who have time and tractors on their side. Farmers – who do not need to return home and harvest their wheat crop until April – have been protesting against a package of government legislation that will loosen the rules on the sale, pricing and storage of farm produce and give the big players of the corporate sector preferential and profitable access.
