INLD leader resigns from Haryana Assembly over farm laws

Indian National Lok Dal legislator and senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala has resigned from the Haryana Assembly over the three contentious farm laws that have sparked nationwide protests by farmers.

Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker Gian Chad Gupta has accepted Chautala’s resignation.

Earlier this month, the MLA from Ellenabad had offered his conditional resignation from the state Assembly saying that if the government did not take back the laws by January 26, it be considered his formal resignation.

Thousands of farmers, protesting against the reforms that they say benefit big private buyers at the expense of growers, have been camped on the outskirts of Delhi for two months to demand the reforms be scrapped.

A protest parade of tractors around the city’s fringes to coincide with Tuesday’s Republic Day celebrations turned into chaos when some farmers diverged from agreed routes, breaking through barricades and clashing with police, who used tear gas and batons to try to restrain them.

Some farmers carrying ceremonial swords reached as far as the Red Fort, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives an annual speech during Independence Day, where they scaled outer walls and hoisted flags.

Agriculture employs about half of India’s population of 1.3 billion, and unrest among an estimated 150 million landowning farmers is one of the biggest tests Modi has faced since coming to power in 2014.

While the protests are beginning to undermine support for Modi in the countryside, he retains a solid majority in parliament and his government has shown no sign of bending to farmers’ demands.

The government says agriculture reform will open up new opportunities for farmers.

Police said they had registered 22 cases against protesters including “rioting, damage to public property and assault on public servants with deadly weapons” in several locations.

Roads across the New Delhi remained closed while extra police, including paramilitary were at protest sites on the outskirts.