Sitting astride a crimson tractor, waving his arms, Balram Singh is hard to miss. Craning down from the driver’s seat, he summons me over, eager to talk.
“These are such bad laws. They will ruin us,” he says, raising his voice over the clamour behind us. “This government wants to give control of Indian farming to big corporates. If they drive down prices, farmers will not survive. People will die.”
In the wide tent behind, one man after another steps up to the microphone. Through the rickety sound-system, they roar defiance of India’s government and Narendra Modi, its prime minister.
A group prepares to leave on the march from Amritsar to demand the repeal of new laws
NARINDER NANU/GETTY IMAGES
Most are Sikhs, grey-bearded, resplendent in brightly coloured turbans. Some carry ceremonial swords and spears, the curved dagger, or kirpan, on their hip, a nod
