The US House of Representatives’ Congressional India Caucus has asked the Narendra Modi government to ensure protesting farmers are allowed to demonstrate their disagreement peacefully and are allowed to have Internet access. The Caucus leaders representatives communicated this to Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the Indian Ambassador to the US, after discussing the ongoing farmers’ agitation on the outskirts of New Delhi.
Congressman Brad Sherman, the co-chair of the Congressional India Caucus, said he met his other Republican Congressman Steve Chabot, and Vice-Chair Congressman Ro Khanna to speak with Sandhu. Sherman said he urged the Indian government to make sure that protesters are allowed to protest peaceably and to have access to the Internet, and to journalists. All friends of India hope the parties can reach an agreement, he said.
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Meanwhile, the capital has fortified itself for a protest that it may not officially witness today if one goes by farmer union reps’ words. The protesters had chalked a country-wide 3-hour road blockade in all parts of the country barring Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. But extra security has been deployed and barricades strengthened, which can worsen traffic congestion on key roads.
Thousands of farmers have been camping at three Delhi border points i.e. Singhu in the North, Tikri in the West and Ghazipur in the East for over 70 days. Multiple rounds of talks between the Government and the farmer unions have remained deadlocked because the farmers are not negotiating anything less than a complete repeal of the three farm laws.
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The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of the farmer unions protesting the farm laws, asserted that peasants in different parts of the country will block national and state highways for three hours from 12 pm to 3 pm in a peaceful way.