As day turned to night, several opposition leaders continued to sit on the lawns outside the Parliament in protest against the recently passed Farm Bills. Eight Rajya Sabha members had, earlier in the day been suspended for the remainder of the Monsoon Session of Parliament. They are Derek O'Brien, KK Ragesh, Dola Sen, Syed Naseer Hussain, Sanjay Singh, Rajiv Sattav, Ripun Bora and Elamaram Karim.
Many other Opposition leaders had temporarily joined the protest through the day. However, with or without the additional support, it would seem that the protesters are not anywhere close to giving up. All eight members are seated on the grass, refusing to leave. Most are still holding placards that read, "Death of democracy" and "Will fight for farmers".
"We will be spending our night in dharna outside the parliament, protesting against the Farm Bills and the undemocratic manner in which it was passed in Rajya Sabha. Suspension won't silence us. We are with our farmers in their fight," declared suspended MP Ripun Bora.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh who reportedly arrived at the Parliament several hours earlier with a pillow and a blanket took to Twitter sharing a video of the protest. In the video the assembled MPs can be seen singing, perhaps in an attempt to keep their spirits up.
"Veeron ke ye baat hai bhai kaayar ka nahi kaam re bhaiya kaayar ka nahee kaam sar par baandh kafan jo nikale bin sochen parinaam re kaayar ka nahee kaam re bhaiya kaayar ka nahee kaam," read the caption.
Sharing pictures of the sit in, Congress leader Rajeev Satav noted that the demonstrations were continuing even after 9:00 pm. The protests, he said, were against the "attempt to assassinate democracy in Parliament and the anti-farmer dictatorial mindset of the Modi government".
"U can suspend us, u can throw us out but u cannot stop us from raising our voices for the farmers.We will continue to stand and fight for the farmers and the marginalised (sic)," tweet fellow party MP Dr Syed Naseer Hussain.
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