Demonstrators torched a police vehicle in India on Monday as tensions boiled over after clashes involving protesting farmers killed at least nine people.
The violence erupted as thousands of farmers took to the streets across India this week to protest the anniversary of the formal passage of controversial agricultural laws.
The laws deregulate agricultural markets and facilitate private buyers’ ability to purchase directly from farmers.
Major opposition parties, including the Congress, and several state governments lent their support for the strike.
New Delhi argues the change will liberalize agricultural markets and strengthen the economy, but farmers fear exploitation by corporate interests outside government markets.
The ongoing farmers' protests could transform into a vibrant political force, providing space for new politics to emerge that's rooted in agriculture and the environment.
These rallies proved some of the biggest to date since farmers — largely from the northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh — trooped along the borders of the national capital to protest against agricultural bills passed by India's parliament in September last year.
The protests have posed one of the major challenges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government so far. The farmer community is a powerful constituency that the government cannot afford to alienate.
About two-thirds of India's 1.3 billion population draw their livelihood from farming and the sector has long been a political minefield.
