Congress leader Rahul Gandhi along with several leaders of opposition parties on Friday extended their solidarity to protesting farmers and joined their Kisan Sansad at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
Leaders of 14 opposition parties met at Parliament House and then reached the nearby Jantar Mantar to participate in the Kisan Sansad, which began on July 22 to mark over seven months of the farmers' protests at Delhi's border points against the laws.
The leaders neither spoke from the podium of the Kisan Sansad (farmers' parliament) nor were they seated on the dais.
Gandhi took to his twitter to pen a poem in Hindi expressing solitude and extending all support to the farmers protesting against the three farm laws. He not only took jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi but also expressed solidarity to protesting farmers.
According to news agency PTI, apart from the Congress, the DMK, the Trinamool, the NCP, the Shiv Sena, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and Delhi's ruling AAP were at the protest, as were reps from the Left (CPM and CPI), the Muslim League, and the National Conference.
The three farm laws were enacted in September last year, following which farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at Delhi border points since November.
"It will not work with a discussion on the farm laws and these black laws will have to be withdrawn," Gandhi said, when asked that the government says it is ready to hold talks with farmers.
He also alleged that the government is not allowing the opposition to raise the Pegasus snooping issue in Parliament.
"You know what is happening in Parliament. We want to discuss the Pegasus (snooping) issue and they are not allowing it to happen. (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi has got into every telephone," he said.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting across the country since last November demanding to repeal of laws they fear will eliminate the MSP (Minimum Support Price) system and leave small and marginal growers at the mercy of big corporations.
The Modi-led government, however, has insisted the laws are beneficial and has refused to roll them back.
