The last time Indian farmers descended on New Delhi, they dealt Narendra Modi a rare political blow, forcing him to backtrack on agricultural reforms.
Now Daljinder Singh Haryaoo, who five years ago drove south to the capital from India’s northern Punjab state, has said he will climb back on his tractor if the prime minister’s government makes too many concessions on agriculture in trade talks with US President Donald Trump.
“Allowing crops and food products through a trade agreement will finish us,” said Singh Haryaoo, one of 30,000 members of a powerful farming union in Punjab’s agricultural heartlands. He grows maize and rice, and keeps dairy cows.