Agricultural laws affect farmers throughout the country. Yet, to date, protests have focused on Delhi and the north.

That doesn’t mean that farmers from other regions aren’t represented in the demonstrations. The Hindustan Times reports that people from southern states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have made the long journey north to add their voices to the protests, despite the hardships of travel and added risk in times of Covid-19.

One farmer from Maharashtra gave a speech on how he already struggled to feed his family, and how the new laws would make this even more difficult. He spoke in his own language: “I don’t know how many Punjabi farmers understood me, but they clapped often,” he said. This is the kind of protest that unites people across the divisions of language.

Smaller regional protests and strikes have also taken place in some areas of the south, such as Kerala and Karnataka. Still, overall, there has been markedly less protest. Bharat Bandh highlights another issue that India is struggling with, beyond agricultural rights and privatisation: the division between south and north, and the differences in the way state governments handle emergencies.

The ruling YSR Congress party has expressed support of the new agricultural laws, on condition that they do not harm the interests of farmers. The consensus, however, is that these laws will inevitably harm the interests of farmers, making the party’s official position untenable.

Agriculture is the state’s biggest business: it accounts for 34% of GDP and employs 62% of the population. So why aren’t the farmers more active in fighting the new laws?

One possible explanation for the lack of significant protest in Andhra Pradesh is that the agricultural system is very different from the way it works in states like Punjab and Harayana. Farmers grow a greater variety of crops and sell in a greater variety of markets. As a result, the changes in the law may not have such a huge impact - at least at first.

Yet this answer is hardly satisfying; if such differences mean that farmers in AP will be less affected by the agricultural reforms immediately, it certainly does not mean that they will remain unaffected. They, too, stand to experience far more hardships in a few years if the mandi system collapses and they can no longer be guaranteed a minimum price for their crops.

A more convincing reason is the high level of tenant farming in Andhra Pradesh. In some areas of the state, up to 80% of farmers do not own their land but work the fields as tenants. This system means that they are not free to join protests without the consent of the landowner. Living in a higher state of insecurity, it is unsurprising that they are more reluctant to mobilise.

Farmers in AP may also be less aware of the potential problems the new laws will mean for them. It isn’t because they are any less politically engaged than others throughout the country – witness the ongoing farmers’ protests in Amaravati – but because there is less awareness. And there is less awareness because Andhra Pradesh has the lowest literacy rate in the whole country: on average, only 60% of people in rural areas are literate. With less education and access to information, there is always less activism. Many people may not realise the severity of the situation until it impacts them personally.

Besides, the AP government is a firm ally of the BJP. The state authorities would not support any form of protest against the national government – unlike other states, such as Punjab, where the state government has also voiced protest against the laws. It’s a great deal safer to engage in strikes and demonstration when the state government is behind you; in Andhra Pradesh, there’s a much higher chance of a harsh crackdown.  

Farmers in India have every right to be concerned and to demand the government revoke the new agricultural laws.

"We will lose our lands, we will lose our income if you let the big businesses decide prices and buy crops," said Gurnam Singh Charuni, one of the leaders of the movement, in an interview for the BBC. "We don't trust big business. Free markets work in countries with less corruption and more regulation. It can't work for us here."

All the more reason to make sure that this Bharat Bandh is a truly national movement, with people from southern states equally involved. While awareness and momentum in states such as Andhra Pradesh appear to be gathering, this is a moment to bridge north-south divisions with an expression of national unity.