Farmers, workers stage India-wide protests against Modi govt’s ‘anti-people’ policies
New Delhi: Farmers, agricultural labourers, rural workers and other working people staged large-scale protests across India against BJP-led Indian government’s anti-people policies.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the call for protest was given by Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the farmers’ umbrella body, which declared Friday (January 16) as All India Resistance Day to oppose the neoliberal assault on workers and farmers by the ultra-right-wing Indian government and to pledge to build a bigger movement against it in the coming days.
Pledge-taking programmes, demonstrations and public meetings were organised at village and district levels in several states, including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal.
Protesters took a collective pledge to resist all pro-corporate anti-workers policies with full strength and launch an agitation until the Modi government is forced to withdraw the new seed and electricity bills, four new labor codes, and its decision to repeal the rural guarantee act. Farmers and workers in India have been protesting against the introduction of four new labor codes for the last few years.
The SKM criticized the government for breaking the December 2021 agreement, introducing policies such as the Electricity Amendment Bill 2025, which could harm farmers, and the Seeds Bill 2025, which gives corporations and multinationals control over the seed market. The new labor codes, SKM said, undermine decades of workers’ rights, including union formation, minimum wages, employment security, eight-hour workdays, and workplace safety, effectively turning the working class into “slaves of corporate capital.”
The pledge also highlighted the fight against the growing suppression of dissent, restrictions on free speech, and erosion of the rule of law, noting that religious minorities have increasingly been targeted under the government’s majoritarian policies.
The SKM described the widespread participation as a sign of unity and determination, calling All India Resistance Day a step toward a sustained nationwide movement for minimum support prices (MSP) with procurement, employment security, social justice, and federal rights.
The farmers’ body vowed to intensify agitation in coordination with central trade unions, agricultural workers’ unions, and democratic forces to challenge the government’s anti-people policies.
