One of the major demands of the strike was the withdrawal of the trade deals India has recently agreed to with the US and the EU. The CTUs, SKM, and left parties in India have called the deals a surrender of the country’s sovereignty and harmful to the interests of the millions of farmers in the country as they allow open access of Indian markets to foreign farm products.
As someone not from India I think I must be missing context. It sounds like they would like India to remain a semi-closed market, as I have heard it has been for a very long time.
Usually trade deals are a viewed aa good thing, at least in the west. Of course, you can have situations where contries assets are owned and controlled by foreign entities while lining the pockets of politicians, which is bad. Not sure if that's the concern.
Anyone want to add some context?