Farmers demand removal of agriculture from WTO, stage protests in Punjab, Haryana, UP
Protesters park their tractors along highways in Punjab and Haryana
Farmers across Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh staged protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) and demanded the removal of the agriculture sector from its agreement. The protests, called for by various farmers’ unions, caused traffic disruptions in some areas.
Effigies symbolising the WTO were set on fire, coinciding with the organisation’s 13th ministerial conference being held in the UAE.
On the call of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of several farm unions that spearheaded the 2020-21 farmers’ stir, protesters parked their tractors along the highways at many places in Punjab and Haryana.
Responding to the call from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a coalition of farm unions, protesters parked their tractors along highways in Punjab and Haryana, underscoring their opposition to WTO regulations. Effigies representing the WTO were also burned at key border points, where farmers have been camped following their halted march to Delhi.
Farm leaders argued that adhering to WTO guidelines would jeopardise India’s agricultural subsidies, labelling such compliance as “suicidal.”
In western Uttar Pradesh, protests by farmers with tractors and by burning effigies representing WTO following a call given by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), disrupted vehicular traffic, which could resume only in the afternoon.
Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson for the BKU, accused the government of neglecting farmers’ legitimate grievances and condemned the alleged mistreatment of protesters at the Punjab-Haryana border.
In Muzaffarnagar district, tractor marches further hindered traffic, with demonstrators blocking sections of the Delhi-Dehradun national highway.
BKU workers rallied in Meerut, staging a demonstration along National Highway 58 and burning a WTO effigy. Tensions rose as BKU district president Anurag Chaudhary clashed with officials during the protest.
Amidst the unrest, plans for a march to Delhi on March 14 were discussed during a meeting chaired by BKU office bearers in Meerut.
In Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district, farmers gathered at various locations, voicing their opposition to WTO policies and demanding legal guarantees for minimum support prices (MSP), debt relief, and the implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations.
Similar demonstrations were observed in Amritsar and Ludhiana, where farmers parked vehicles along highways to register their dissent against the WTO.
In Haryana’s Hisar, farmers staged protests at fifty different locations, parking tractors along state and national highways. All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) state vice president Shamsher Singh Nambardar claimed that the government’s failure to ensure MSP for all crops was a consequence of WTO policies, further fuelling farmers’ discontent.
