WITH the ongoing peasant struggle in India, the global Indian diaspora, especially those with roots in Punjab and Haryana, people of the Indian descent, are protesting in favour of the kisan movement where Indian farmers are fighting against new anti-farmer legislation which was recently passed by the Indian government. These farm laws were passed without any consultation from farmers, farmers unions or agricultural or environmental experts. These newly imposed anti-farming laws hand over the entire farming sector to large greed filled agricultural corporations.

Sympathy with the Indian farmers is growing around the world every day. On January 17th, there was a tractor march which was organised by some Punjabi farmers in Langley,  which is a farming community in British Columbia, Canada known for growing vegetables, fruits and dairy farming. More than 300 tractors and scores of cars took part in the protest. ICWA(Indo-Canadian Workers Association) Canada, enthusiastically participated in large numbers with its banner.

The cars and tractors demonstrated peacefully on a scheduled route which was more than 50 kilometres under the conditions set by the organisers and accordance with the Covid-19 epidemic regulations. The tractor march took two hours to reach its destination. Apart from showing solidarity with the kisan movement, no provocative or divisive slogans were seen or heard.

The great peculiarity of this protest was that many non-Punjabi farmers came out from their homes with their families including small children and greeted the protesters with open arms. It was evident from their faces that they understood that the Indian government was not doing justice to the Indian farming community.

The peasant movement of India is gaining more and more support and sympathy on a global scale day by day.