Massive convoy of supporters for farmers in India driving through Metro Vancouver

SURREY (NEWS 1130) — Supporters of farmers in India are expected to take to the streets of Metro-Vancouver once again Saturday.

A massive convoy with an anticipated 1,000 vehicles is taking off from the Cloverdale Fairgrounds on its way to the Indian Consulate in Vancouver.

At issue are new laws passed by the Indian government that farmers and their supporters say will leave them at a disadvantage in favour of large, corporate land-holders.

Indian farmers have been met with tear gas and water cannons while protesting new laws enacted by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they say will subject them to corporate exploitation by driving down prices for their products.

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Earlier this week, Moninder Singh — a volunteer at Wednesday’s demonstration, explained farmers are being misled and marginalized where some feel “they’re at the mercy of larger corporations to be bought out.”

“Small-time farmers will lose their livelihoods, but also their actual farms, their land and were left pretty much a destitute at the end of this,” he said. “So, this is really in their support for the government to repeal the unlawful bills that they’ve actually passed in parliament and that because of that there’s right now hundreds of thousands of people descending on Delhi.”

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