NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian farmers and their leaders spearheading a more than two-month-long protest against agriculture laws have begun a daylong hunger strike amid growing fury against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. Farmer leaders say that Saturday’s hunger strike will reaffirm that the protests against the contentious agriculture laws were peaceful. The hunger strike coincides with the death anniversary of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. Farmers are demanding the withdrawal of laws, which they say will favor large corporate farms, devastate the earnings of many farmers and leave those who hold small plots behind as big corporations win out. Modi and his allies have billed the laws as necessary to modernize Indian farming.
