Part 9 ended with a movement "suspended, not ended," and a stack of promises the government had not kept. Two years later, the bill came due. The farmers returned to the road — but this time weaker, more divided, stopped far short of Delhi, and met with even harsher force. This is the round that did not end in victory.
1Why the fire relit: promises that turned to ash
Remember the six demands from Part 9. After the celebration faded, the farmers waited for the promises to be kept. Most never were.
The promises of December 2021, and where they stood by 2024
| Promise | What actually happened |
|---|---|
| Legal guarantee of MSP | A committee was formed in July 2022 (under former farm secretary Sanjay Agrawal). Farmers called it packed with pro-law members and boycotted it; its report was not made public for years.11The post-repeal MSP committee under former Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agrawal was set up in July 2022; the SKM criticised its composition and largely stayed away. Its report remained unpublished long after. Deccan Herald; PRS. |
| Withdraw cases; compensation; Lakhimpur justice | Only partly done and slow; the accused minister in Lakhimpur Kheri (Part 7) was never dismissed. |
| A written MSP law | Still nothing. The single biggest demand remained exactly where it began. |
By late 2023, the farmers concluded what Part 9 had warned: a promise you cannot take to the bank is not payment. So they prepared to march again.
2A movement divided
Here is the single most important difference from 2020–21, and the reason Round Two was weaker. In the first movement, 40-odd unions stood as one Samyukt Kisan Morcha. By 2024, that unity had cracked.
The 2024 march was led by two allied forums — the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), or SKM (NP), and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) — under leaders Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher. The original SKM (of Tikait, Rajewal and others that won Round One) largely stood apart.22Delhi Chalo 2.0 (2024) was led by SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha under Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher; the larger original SKM stayed separate. Business Standard; Wikipedia, "2024–2025 Indian farmers' protest."
| One way to read the split | Another way to read it |
|---|---|
| An honest difference over tactics — some wanted to march again now; others thought the timing and method were wrong. | A fracture of egos and politics that fatally weakened the movement, letting the government face a divided, easier opponent. |
Round One's superpower was unity. Round Two's fatal flaw was division. A split movement is simply easier to stop — and this one was stopped before it ever reached Delhi.
3Delhi Chalo 2.0 and the fortress at Shambhu
On 13 February 2024, thousands of farmers set off from Punjab toward Delhi. They never got close. The BJP-run Haryana government had turned its border into a fortress — and this time, the tools were harsher and more high-tech.
The Shambhu and Khanauri crossings were sealed with multi-layer cement barricades, iron spikes and nails set in the road, barbed wire, water cannons and tear gas. Most strikingly, drones dropped tear-gas shells from above — a first for such protests. Farmers fought back with kites, wet jute sacks and slingshots to bring the drones down, and internet was suspended across parts of Haryana.33From 13 Feb 2024, Haryana sealed the Shambhu and Khanauri borders with barricades, spikes, water cannon and tear gas — including drone-dropped tear-gas shells; internet was suspended in parts of Haryana. Deccan Herald; India TV; Euronews.
Blocked from marching, the farmers dug in at the two border points — and there they would stay, not for weeks, but for more than a year.
4The demands, and the government's counter-offer
The demands had grown broader than in Round One. The heart of them was still the same: a written, legal MSP at the Swaminathan "C2+50%" level (Part 2). Around it sat a full debt waiver, pensions for farmers and labourers, no rise in electricity rates, justice for Lakhimpur Kheri, and India's exit from the WTO.
In talks in mid-February 2024, a panel of three Union ministers made a concrete offer:
| The government's offer (18 Feb 2024) | Why the farmers rejected it (19 Feb) |
|---|---|
| Government agencies would buy five crops — three pulses (tur, urad, masoor), maize and cotton — at MSP for five years, under contract, through cooperatives.44On 18 Feb 2024 a panel of three Union ministers offered a five-year MSP procurement of pulses, maize and cotton via cooperatives; farmers rejected it on 19 Feb as diluting the demand, insisting on C2+50% for all crops. Outlook; Business Standard. | It covered only five crops, not all; it tied farmers to contracts; and it was still not a legal guarantee. Farmers said it sought to "divert and dilute" the real demand. |
This was a genuine, substantive disagreement — not just noise. The government's plan would have also nudged Punjab away from thirsty paddy toward pulses and maize (recall Part 1's water crisis), which many economists liked. But to farmers it looked like a small, conditional bribe offered in place of the durable legal right they had marched for. Both had a real point.
5The death of Shubhkaran Singh
On 21 February 2024, as farmers tried again to push past the Khanauri barricade, clashes broke out — and a 21-year-old farmer, Shubhkaran Singh, of Ballo village in Bathinda, was killed.55Shubhkaran Singh, 21, of Ballo village (Bathinda), died at the Khanauri border on 21 Feb 2024. Patiala doctors and the autopsy pointed to a fatal injury to the back of the head; a murder FIR was registered. Farmers alleged police action; Haryana police denied lethal firing. The Tribune; The Quint; Deccan Herald.
| The farmers' account | The Haryana police account |
|---|---|
| He was shot; doctors at Patiala and the autopsy pointed to a fatal injury to the back of his head. His father's police complaint said he was struck down while ahead of the crowd. A murder case was registered. | Haryana police denied firing lethal rounds, and said the farmers had turned violent, pelting stones and attacking security personnel. |
Punjab's Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann promised action against those responsible, plus compensation and a government job for the family. His body was not cremated for days, as the family and unions pressed for an FIR and justice first. His death — the movement's first martyr of Round Two — briefly paused the march and hardened the sit-in into a long, grim vigil at the borders.
6The fast unto death: Dallewal and the Supreme Court
Through 2024 the farmers held the two borders. But a static sit-in far from Delhi could be ignored in a way the 2020–21 siege never was. So one leader chose to put his own body on the line.
On 26 November 2024 — four years to the month after the first Dilli Chalo — Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a farmer leader in his seventies and a cancer patient, began an indefinite hunger strike ("fast unto death") at Khanauri, for the one demand above all others: a legal guarantee of MSP.
A fast unto death is a hunger strike with no end date — the person refuses food until either the demand is met or they die. It is a moral weapon with deep roots in India's freedom struggle. It turns the protester's own body into the pressure.
As Dallewal's health collapsed, the Supreme Court stepped in — not to judge MSP, but over his life. Through December 2024 and January 2025 it pressed the Punjab government to ensure he received medical care, weighing his survival against his own refusal of treatment. A court-appointed high-powered committee, under a retired judge, engaged the farmers.66Dallewal began his fast on 26 Nov 2024 at Khanauri; his health drew Supreme Court intervention (Dec 2024–Jan 2025) pressing Punjab to ensure medical care, and a court-appointed committee under Justice Nawab Singh engaged the protesters. The Print; National Herald.
131 days without food
Dallewal finally ended his fast on 6 April 2025 — after 131 days — taking a single sip of water, once the government agreed to resume talks and farmer supporters urged him to live.77Dallewal ended his 131-day hunger strike on 6 April 2025 with a sip of water, after the government agreed to resume talks. The Print; ETV Bharat; Deccan Herald.
"On the request of farmer supporters from Punjab and across the country, I have decided to end my fast unto death… The struggle will continue — the method may change, but the movement is not over."
7The borders cleared — and by whom
The end of Round Two came with a bitter twist. It was not Haryana or the central government that finally cleared the camps. It was Punjab's own police — under the AAP state government that had once posed as the farmers' friend.
On 19 March 2025, just after a round of talks in Chandigarh with the Union Agriculture Minister, Punjab Police detained Dallewal, Pandher and other leaders, dismantled the stages and trolleys, and reopened the Shambhu and Khanauri highways after 13 months.88On 19 Mar 2025, Punjab Police detained Dallewal, Pandher and others returning from Chandigarh talks and cleared the Shambhu and Khanauri sites, reopening the highways after 13 months. Punjab told the Supreme Court the borders were cleared. Business Standard; India TV; Deccan Herald.
| The Punjab government's case | The farmers' case |
|---|---|
| The highways had been blocked for over a year, badly hurting Punjab's own traders, industry and commuters. Sooner or later, the roads had to reopen. | A government that had claimed to stand with farmers had turned on them, doing the Centre's dirty work and breaking a movement from behind. |
The leaders were later released. But the 13-month sit-in was over — cleared not by the opponent, but by a supposed ally.
8Round One vs Round Two, at a glance
Place the two movements side by side and the whole difference becomes clear in one look.
| Round One (2020–21) | Round Two (2024–25) | |
|---|---|---|
| Leadership | United — 40+ unions, one SKM | Split — SKM (NP) + KMM; original SKM apart |
| How far it reached | Delhi's own borders | Stuck at Punjab–Haryana borders; never reached Delhi |
| The trigger | Three new laws | Broken promises — above all, no MSP law |
| Force faced | Barricades, water cannon, tear gas | The same, plus drone-dropped tear gas and road spikes |
| National sympathy | Huge and broad (the Jat belt joined) | Narrower, largely confined to Punjab |
| Outcome | Laws repealed — a clear win | No clear win; camp cleared, core demand unmet |
9Where things stand
Let me be plain and current. As of 2025, and continuing as this book is written in 2026, the acute standoff is over — but nothing at its heart is resolved.
The hunger strike ended (April 2025). The borders were cleared (March 2025). Talks between the farmers and the Centre resumed — but produced no breakthrough, and no legal MSP guarantee has been enacted. The post-repeal MSP committee's work drew little trust. The Supreme Court has stayed involved, at times pressing the Centre to engage the farmers seriously. The core question of this entire book — will India put a floor price into law? — remains exactly where it was.
10Where we go next
Two rounds, one unhealed wound. Before I offer any final verdict, there is a layer of this story we have only glimpsed — the deeper, uncomfortable truths that almost no one on either side likes to discuss out loud. Punjab's dying water. The landless labourers and tenant farmers the MSP debate forgets. The arhtiya's own quiet stake. The global trade rules in the background. And the hardest question of all: can India even afford what the farmers are asking for? That is Part 11: The Hidden Layers.
Part 10 — the seven things to carry forward
- Round Two was lit by broken promises from the repeal — above all, the still-missing legal MSP law.
- The movement was divided: led by SKM (Non-Political) and KMM under Dallewal and Pandher, with the original SKM apart.
- Delhi Chalo 2.0 (13 Feb 2024) was stopped at Shambhu and Khanauri by a high-tech fortress — including drone-dropped tear gas.
- The government's five-crop, five-year MSP offer was rejected as a dilution of the C2+50% demand.
- Shubhkaran Singh (21) was killed at Khanauri on 21 Feb 2024 — the farmers alleging police action, Haryana police denying lethal firing.
- Dallewal's 131-day hunger strike (from 26 Nov 2024) drew in the Supreme Court and ended on 6 April 2025.
- In a bitter twist, Punjab's own police cleared the borders on 19 March 2025. As of 2026, the MSP law still does not exist.
Sources & further reading — Part 10
- Wikipedia — "2024–2025 Indian farmers' protest" (timeline, leadership, demands, casualties).
- Deccan Herald / India TV / Euronews — the Delhi Chalo 2.0 march, the Shambhu–Khanauri fortifications, and the use of drones to drop tear gas.
- Outlook / Business Standard — the government's five-crop, five-year MSP proposal (18 Feb 2024) and the farmers' rejection.
- The Tribune / The Quint / Deccan Herald — the death of Shubhkaran Singh (21 Feb 2024), the autopsy, the FIR, and Punjab's response.
- The Print / ETV Bharat / National Herald — Jagjit Singh Dallewal's hunger strike (from 26 Nov 2024), the Supreme Court's involvement, and its end on 6 April 2025 after 131 days.
- Business Standard / India TV / Deccan Herald — Punjab Police clearing the Shambhu and Khanauri borders and detaining leaders on 19 March 2025; and the continuing absence of a legal MSP guarantee into 2025–26.
This part covers very recent events; dates and figures are from contemporary reporting and public records. Contested points — the union split, the MSP offer, Shubhkaran Singh's death, and the clearing of the borders — are given from both sides. The death of Shubhkaran Singh, and Dallewal's fast, are treated as the grave matters they are.