India arrests climate activist arrested for supporting farmers

Disha Ravi, 22 was arrested in Bengaluru and appeared in a New Delhi court on Sunday

Indian farmers sit next to their tractors during a protest at the Delhi Ghazipur Border, near New Delhi. EPA

An Indian climate activist has been arrested for circulating a "Toolkit document" on social media that allegedly incited protesting farmers to turn violent last month.

One protester died and about 400 police officers were injured during clashes in the Indian capital New Delhi.

Disha Ravi, 22, was arrested in the southern city of Bengaluru and appeared in a New Delhi court on Sunday, New Delhi police said.

The court sent her to police custody for five days to help in an investigation “into the criminal conspiracy related to the Toolkit document” that allegedly incited the farmers on January 26, India’s Republic Day, police said.

Thousands of farmers stormed New Delhi’s historic Red Fort complex on January 26, posing a major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.

Farmers demanding the repeal of new agricultural laws briefly took over the 17th-century fort and hoisted a Sikh religious flag.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs condemned “vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda”, after pop star Rihanna, teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg and Meena Harris, the niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, tweeted their support to the farmers on February 3.

The Indian government says the new laws are necessary to modernise Indian farming.

The farmers say the laws will benefit corporations and leave them at the mercy of big business in negotiating prices for their crops.

Tens of thousands of farmers have been camping on the outskirts of New Delhi since the last week of November.

In 2019, Ms Ravi started the Fridays for Future India movement, co-ordinating strikes in different areas of Bengaluru every Friday to protest against climate change.