Today in Politics: With farmers set to march to Delhi, why it is a big test for both BJP govt and INDIA bloc

The passage of three controversial agriculture laws in Parliament in 2020 sparked a year-long protest by farmers’ groups, which camped on Delhi’s borders for months till the government finally relented and repealed the farm laws in late 2021.

Now, the farmers will be on the move again on Tuesday, months before the Lok Sabha elections, after talks with the Centre broke down late on Monday night. The farmers are demanding, among other things, a law to guarantee a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, pensions and debt waivers, and compensation for the families of farmers who died in the 2020-’21 protests.

More than 200 farmer unions are expected to participate in the “Delhi Chalo” march on Tuesday. Led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, farmers primarily from Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh will march to Delhi amid tight security at the borders. Authorities have imposed Section 144 and internet shutdowns in some areas and blocked major roads using concrete blocks, iron nails, and barbed wire.

For the anti-BJP parties in the Opposition, which appear in a tight spot at the moment, these protests are an opportunity to corner the ruling party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has made farmers central to his election campaign. The PM late last year said farmers were among the four major “castes” — along with the poor, the youth, and women — whose uplift would spur development across India.

The Congress has already begun to criticise the government on its record on agriculture. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, posted on X, “Modi, who ‘cultivates lies’ day and night, has only cheated farmers in the last 10 years. Promising doubling of their income,