NEW DELHI – Discontent is sweeping through India in the form of widespread protests over land use, food, fuel and jobs.
Indian citizens have long embraced their constitutional right to assemble, and they have done so with fervor this month in large protests over a wide range of issues throughout the country.
Some speculate that India's weak central government, which is run by an uneasy coalition between the Congress Party and the Left Front, could be contributing to the unrest. Others attribute the upheaval to rapid changes in Indian society.
Yesterday, the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir in the north was roiled for a sixth consecutive day by demonstrations, the region's largest in nearly 20 years. The protest was over what demonstrators say is a plan to build a settlement for Hindu pilgrims on forest land.
Three people have been killed and more than two dozen injured, local officials said. The police used tear gas and fired live ammunition into the air yesterday, trying to disperse the crowds, The Associated Press reported.
Two weeks ago, in Darjeeling – in West Bengal state in India's northeast – Nepali-speaking separatists went on strike, shutting businesses and schools. They also asked tens of thousands of tourists to leave the area. The protesters, led by a separatist movement, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, are demanding a new state for people of Nepalese origin.
Although Indian residents with roots in Nepal have been seeking quasi-independence for decades, a new social mobility may have heightened the aspiration. Such people are now “going all over India, from Bangalore to Delhi; they are more educated, they are part of the mainstream,” said Ravi Thakuri, a Nepali-speaking lawyer from Darjeeling who works in New Delhi.
In yet another part of the country, in Rajasthan state in the northwest, thousands of nomadic shepherds known as Gujjars shut down trains and roads leading to the city of Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, during the past two months. The Gujjars were demanding that the government award them a special caste status that would make them eligible for more benefits and jobs. Weeks of protests ended June 18 after the government promised more jobs. More than 30 people were killed when the police fired into crowds.
Nationwide protests also occurred in response to a 10 percent increase in the price of fuel June 4. Trains were disrupted and schools closed. Rising prices for food and other essentials also led to scattered demonstrations in pockets of India.
The most recent protests, in Jammu and Kashmir, touch on a particularly delicate subject, the status of Muslims in the state, the only one in India with a Muslim majority. Tens of thousands took to the streets Friday night in Srinagar, the state's main city, demanding independence.
The crowds were much smaller yesterday, witnesses said, in part because the police used tear gas and bamboo sticks against them.
