The Daily - The Farmers Revolt in India

Episode Date: November 24, 2021

After a landslide re-election in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s control over India seemed impossible to challenge.But a yearlong farmers’ protest against agricultural overhauls has done just that, forcing the Indian prime minister to back down.How did the protesters succeed?Guest: Emily Schmall, a South Asia correspondent for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The protesters received foreign and domestic financial support, kept their camps organized and looked for ways to be seen while trying to avoid violence.How a bungled response to Covid and a struggling economy have hurt the governing party’s standing in India.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today, the Prime Minister of India has emerged as a popular, fearsome, and unbending leader whose power seemed impossible to challenge. I spoke with my colleague, Emily Schmall, about how a group of farmers finally forced him to back down. It's Wednesday, November 24th. Emily, tell us about these protests that have been going on for so long now in India. So back in June 2020, when India was still under the first coronavirus lockdown,

the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced quietly these three laws that were meant to dramatically reform agriculture in India. Prime Minister Modi has been in power now for seven years, and he won this landslide re-election in 2019 and commands a huge majority in parliament. So there wasn't any doubt that this bill would make it through. But the thing is, not many people were paying attention. The farmers were, however. And they watched as Mr. Modi's party ushered these laws through parliament in a matter of just days in September 2020. And immediately they started protesting.

And why? What will these laws do? So the thing to understand about India is that agriculture in India is the biggest employer by far. In fact, it employs about 60% of the population. So that's more than half a billion people. And yet only contributes about 11% to GDP. So there's this huge imbalance there. And there's a lot of inefficiencies. And many people are subsistence farmers who barely scrape by and have to take out enormous loans every year to plant and harvest fields and make so little money or end up so deeply in debt that there has been this spate of suicides among farmers in a truly astronomical number.

So the way the system works now is that the government has these markets where farmers can bring their stock and buyers can come and there are guaranteed prices. But it's not for all crops. It's mostly just for wheat and rice. And so this has resulted in surpluses that end up getting dumped on overseas markets or rotting away in warehouses while other parts of India suffer from malnutrition. So the farm laws create a system for contract farming. And the farmers feared that they would soon find themselves

at the mercy of these giant corporations that would insist on extremely low prices for their produce and they wouldn't be able to survive. So right now, many of India's farmers sell to these public markets where they get a guaranteed price for their produce. Mr. Modi wanted to shake up that system a little bit by allowing private buyers to make contracts and buy directly from farmers, which would make them less dependent on these government-controlled markets and would create more incentives for them to grow other produce and grow it according to the market demand, whether overseas or in India. So the farmers, in theory, were open to this kind of reform,

but they just really didn't like the way that Mr. Modi went about it, which was emblematic of the way he's governed the last seven years. He introduces policy and ushers it through really, really quickly before there's much chance for anyone to weigh in or even state an objection. And by the time they do, the policy is already law. So it was as much or more about the way in which Mr. Modi introduced these laws and passed them as it was about the laws themselves. Hmm. So you're saying this is the way Modi typically operates. What are other examples of that? Right. So there are a few really notable ones. In 2016, Mr. Modi's government decided that it was going to ban the most widely circulated currency notes. And they said it was to do away with

black money, counterfeit money. But instead, all of these people suddenly found themselves with these valueless bills. And people who kept their savings at home and didn't have bank accounts and small businesses that operated entirely with cash, found themselves penniless, literally overnight. And then a few years later, he decided to push through a bill, again, really quickly, that revoked the semi-autonomy and statehood of Kashmir, this Himalayan region, and puts it under the control of the Modi government in New Delhi. And the way he did it was he flooded the region with soldiers.

Everybody was made to stay in their homes. He cut out internet access and pushed through this law, and there was little that Kashmiris could do about it. Then later in 2019, his government pushed through a law that provides a fast track to citizenship for foreigners in South Asia from all major religious faiths except Islam. Except Islam. Except Islam. And this triggered massive protests across the country by people who said that it violated the secular nature of India's constitution. So what has been the lesson of each of these episodes and all these episodes together?

that Narendra Modi is a strong man, prime minister, who has the force of personality and the public backing and the majority in parliament to push through literally anything he wants. And anybody who dares to oppose him faces jail or worse. And so there's not much value in objecting, whether in protest

or any other way, because Modi has this stranglehold on India. But with the farmers, it felt different. How so? Their response was explosive. It felt different. How so? Their response was explosive. Tens of thousands of people started protesting in different parts of the country. And in November, they decided to march to the capital, New Delhi, where they planned to protest directly in front of the executive offices where Mr. Modi and his government work.

When they reached the borders of New Delhi, however, the Delhi police, who are controlled by Mr. Modi's government, dispelled them with water cannons and tear gas, and they weren't able to proceed any further. So they decided they would camp out on the edges of the capital and would form sort of a blockade around the capital that snarled traffic and made them impossible to ignore. And in the end, they had created six different protest camps

where tens of thousands of people slept, ate, prayed, and protested for an entire year. And it had the feel of a pretty well-run small city. There were farmers sleeping in the backs of tractors. There were community gardens and community kitchens. There were women volunteers who were washing and tailoring clothes. There were barbershops. And in the middle of this small city,

I met this farmer named Navdeep Singh. And he was 30 years old. He was hunched over in this community garden shelling peas that were going to be used in a meal at one of these free community kitchens. he was a seventh generation farmer and how much he worried about losing his family's heritage, which was this land and which was farming, and how he was there at the protest because of his ancestors who had made it possible for him to have a middle-class life because they had tilled the land for so long. And he was coming to the protest site as often as he could because he really felt that in some ways he had no choice. He had to take this stand or else his life and the life of so many people around him who meant something to him would just disappear.

So clearly, the presence of all these farmers in this camp filled with this many protesters is a powerful political statement. But what specifically are these farmers demanding? The farmers are demanding the full repeal of these three laws. Farmers are demanding the full repeal of these three laws. And in fact, they're generating so much interest and so much sympathy around the country that in January, the Supreme Court steps in and implements a stay on these laws and says, basically, the government and the farmers have to sit at the negotiating table and hash it out before these laws can come into effect. But then there's this big clash in January, and it's not clear that the movement will continue. What happens in January?

Hmm. What happens in January? So in late January, India celebrates a national holiday called Republic Day. And on that day, Mr. Modi was watching this military parade with visiting foreign dignitaries. And the farmers, who had requested a permit to enter the city limits, but not been given one, decide to enter anyway. And some of them are on horses, others are on tractors. And they drive into the city and up to one of New Delhi's most iconic monuments, the Red Fort.

And a couple of protesters actually scramble up this flagpole and put a flag where the Indian national flag normally is. And in the scuffle, one of the protesters who's driving a tractor gets killed. The tractor falls and crushes him. Wow. And so immediately, the government and its supporters start labeling the farmers

as unruly protesters who are violent secessionists and links them with this old movement that sought secession from India and vilifies them. And the farmers are forced to retreat back to their camps. And it's not clear where they go, if anywhere, from that moment. Political analysts are saying the movement could be dead. I have to wonder if the farmers at this point are starting to think that challenging Modi, as many have learned in the past, is kind of pointless. the past is kind of pointless. I'm sure some of them do feel that way. And the situation is starting to feel kind of hopeless. There's a second wave of the coronavirus hitting India, and it's especially

devastating in Delhi. And farmers in the protest camps are getting sick and dying. And the weather's changing. It's getting cold. And it just doesn't seem like they have a lot of options left to them. But there were some protest leaders who thought that if they were able to recommit to embracing India's long tradition of peaceful protest, they might still have a shot. So they regrouped

and they come up with this really creative strategy that they think might help them triumph over Modi. We'll be right back. So Emily, what is this creative plan that the farmers come up with? So now it's September 2021, and everyone is looking ahead to these big state elections in Uttar Pradesh, which is India's largest state that

has the most seats in parliament. And it's seen as a bellwether for how general elections will go. It's also the state where Modi's base is located. So it's crucial that Modi and his party retain power in this state. So the farmers know how important this state election is to Mr. Modi and his party. And they recognize that while they're occupying these protest camps outside of Delhi has been really powerful and resonant. It's not done enough. They've had more than a dozen rounds of negotiations with the government that haven't resulted in any changes. So they decide to hit the road. They decide to send protesters to all of the campaign events that Modi's party members are planning to hold and basically make themselves a campaign issue

that the government can't ignore. And that's exactly what happens. They start going to these small political rallies and speeches given by members of Mr. Modi's party and they're farmers carrying these black flags that they wave as the politicians enter and exit the events. And they're chanting, denouncing these farm laws, and they're picked up by every TV network that's there to cover the politician's speech.

So they're very much becoming a part of the campaign. So this seems to be working because they are hard to ignore at these campaign events. Exactly. So the protest leaders decide to keep up the pressure. And in October, decide to keep up the pressure. And in October, they dispatch a bunch of protesting farmers to this tiny town in Uttar Pradesh near the border with Nepal. And they're there because this junior minister

in Modi's cabinet is going to visit his constituency with his son and other members of the party. So the protesters show up in this village, and they're standing on the road, holding their black flags, denouncing the laws when something terrible happens. I'll have to take some breaking news, which is coming in at this moment. Let's put that on the screen right now. As they turn to leave the protest site and go back to their vehicles.

We're hearing that violence has broken out during a farmer's protest against the visit of the Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister. This convoy carrying the son of a powerful minister and local politician hurtles toward them. Now a video shows the farmers are walking on the road. All of a sudden, this speeding car goes from behind, crushes them and doesn't even stop after that. And this jeep smashes into farmers and four of them are killed instantly. The situation reportedly turned violent after this incident. Angry farmers set ablaze three cars, including an SUV,

which ran over these farmers. They attacked people in the cars. And at the end of the day, eight people are dead. Two BJP workers, a driver and a local journalist, also died in the violence. And within a few days... The Uttar Pradesh police now filing a murder case against Ashish. The son of this minister is arrested in connection with this incident.

And what a lot of people take away from this is the image of this lawmaker's son literally crushing these farmers who are peacefully protesting. And the popular sentiment in this state, this crucial state for Mr. Modi's party, starts to shift. This video is now at the center of the political battle in Uttar Pradesh. Farmer unions have now given a call for nationwide protests over the deaths... People who weren't that moved by the farmers' protests up to this point start to really sympathise with them. Politicians from across the spectrum trying to capitalize on the violence that claimed

the lives of eight people. And the opposition parties pick up on this. Critics warn that this has become the biggest challenge Mr. Modi has faced since coming to power in 2014. They start using it at their rallies. They say to people, how could you vote for a party that allows someone to literally run over helpless people and gets away with it? Farmers say they'll campaign against Mr. Modi and ask voters to boycott his party. And the poll numbers, which had shown Modi's party cruising to victory in the elections that are scheduled for next year start to change somewhat. Modi sees this and he panics. So within a few weeks of this deadly crash. Modi goes on TV. He addresses the nation and he says his government is going to seek to repeal the farm laws. And he apologizes.

He asks the farmers to forgive him. He says, I want to say with a pure heart that maybe there will be a lack in our penance. Today, I beg the forgiveness of my countrymen and say with a pure heart and honest mind that perhaps there was some shortcoming. Wow. And I'm watching this and I'm shocked because since Mr. Modi came to power in 2014,

he's never capitulated like this. And the whole country is shocked. Here's this strongman leader who never backs down. And he has suddenly. And to these farmers who have been protesting for so long that it's felt like surely they'll have to back down eventually. But they didn't, and he has. So this is starting to look like a very meaningful victory for these farmers.

Yeah, it was, And the farmers celebrated. It's around 2.30 p.m. This morning, PM Modi announced that the farm laws will be repealed. As you can see, the celebrations are in full swing with me. They were setting off fireworks. People were dancing. And just a couple of moments ago, we saw a couple of people distributing sweets. And they realized that if they challenged Modi this persistently, they could actually prevail. The farmers have been sitting, have been camping on Delhi's borders for about a year now, and they've been braving all kinds of odds. And that sort of challenged this myth. They realized that maybe Modi isn't as unbeatable as he's been made to seem. And that if they maintain this pressure campaign, that he actually will back down.

pressure campaign that he actually will back down. And this is an astonishing realization because it challenges this idea that democracy in India is in peril, that there is a democratic way to challenge this government and win. Right. Although that democratic way is hard and punishing and has required huge sacrifices from these farmers. Undoubtedly. This is an extraordinary campaign. And to replicate it is almost unthinkable. Yet this success does show that it's possible. And that,

for democracy advocates in India, is a really important win. So now that there is this win, are these farmers packing up these camps and heading back to their farms and more or less calling it a day? No, because they don't trust Modi. They want to make sure that Parliament actually repeals these laws

and they want to see some other kind of reform introduced in their place. And they want to make sure that they have a seat at the table while the government is making these reforms, that it doesn't happen with them sidelined. So they're staying in the camps. And today, if you go to the outskirts of Delhi, you see people harvesting produce from the community gardens and cooking in these community kitchens and just getting ready for a winter. near these busy overpasses, and just digging in until the kinds of reforms they want to see are reached. Well, Emily, thank you very much. We really appreciate it. Thank you. We'll be right back. To be continued... rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, legally liable for the injuries and in one case death of counter-protesters, and ordered them to pay more than $25 million in damages. The verdict was a major defeat for the defendants in the case, a mix of white nationalists,

neo-Nazis, and Confederate sympathizers who had staged the rally to protest the removal of a Confederate statue. One of them is already serving a life sentence for using his car to attack the counter-protesters and killing one of them, 32-year-old Heather Heyer. And... Five, four, three, two, one. And liftoff. NASA launched a spacecraft this morning that will test whether slamming it into an asteroid

can change the asteroid's trajectory. The craft is designed to crash into Dimorphos, a harmless asteroid the size of a football field at about 15,000 miles per hour, around a year from now. If the test works, it could provide NASA with a template for deflecting asteroids that pose a catastrophic threat to Earth. Today's episode was produced by Sydney Harper, Muj Zaydi, Luke Vanderplug, Aastha Chaturvedi, and Jessica Chung. It was edited by Dave Shaw and engineered by Chris Wood. Original music by Dan Powell and Marian Lozano.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonderland. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Bovara. See you on Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday.