NEW DELHI (AP) — A coalition of India’s main unions and farmer groups held a nationwide strike on Thursday to protest an interim trade deal with the United States, saying it harms farmers, small businesses and workers.
In Parliament, opposition lawmakers asked the government to scrap the trade deal and criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi with slogans of “Narendra Modi, surrender Modi”.
The one-day strike, which partially disrupted public services and manufacturing activity, highlighted resistance to the reform agenda laid out by Narendra Modi, leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and highlighted the political risks of pursuing market-oriented policies ahead of key state elections later this year.
In New Delhi, protesting farmer activist Hannan Mollah said India’s recent free trade agreements with New Zealand, Europe and now the United States will devastate India’s agricultural sector as local markets will be flooded with cheaper products.
“The fight will continue until our demands are met, otherwise the public will gather in large numbers and overthrow the Modi government,” Molla said.
A trade deal with Washington opens markets for subsidized Indian agricultural products, threatening the livelihoods of millions of small farmers, a union leader says.
“Cheap U.S. agricultural products will be dumped into India, making it difficult for our farmers and small businesses to compete,” said Amarjit Kaur, general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress, a prominent trade union that participated in the strike.
The New Delhi government has argued that the interim trade agreement is a step to expand exports, attract investment and strengthen strategic ties with the United States. India’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal recently said that the interests of farmers in the agriculture and dairy industries are being protected.
India and the United States announced this month that they were moving closer to a formal trade agreement, releasing a temporary framework to lower tariffs and deepen economic ties.
A fact sheet released by the White House shows that India’s reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods will be reduced from 25% to 18%, and an additional 25% punitive tariff on India’s purchase of Russian oil will also be eliminated.
In return, India will stop buying Russian oil and buy $500 billion worth of U.S. goods, including energy, while cutting taxes and non-tariff barriers.
Protesters in India also oppose Modi’s efforts to privatize state companies and implement new labor laws, calling the sweeping reforms a “deceptive fraud” against workers.
Indian officials believe that in the long term, labor reforms are needed to improve efficiency and create jobs.
