A delegation of opposition parties’ leaders arrived at the Ghazipur border on Thursday morning to meet the farmers who have been protesting against the contentious farm laws but allegedly were stopped by the Delhi Police, one of the leaders said.

The delegation included NCP MP Supriya Sule, DMK MP Kanimozhi, Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and TMC MP Saugata Roy.

SAD leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal said, “Saw first hand the conditions created at Ghazipur border. Shocked to see the treatment being meted out to the annadaata. Farmers are barricaded behind fortress like concrete barriers and barbed wire fencing. Even ambulances and fire brigades cannot enter the protest site.”

The police have strengthened security at the Ghazipur border protest site by setting up barbed wire fences, barricades and spikes on the road and have dug up trenches to stop the farmers from entering the national capital. The measures have been put in place after the tractor rally violence that took place on the Republic Day.

Also, several borders have been closed for traffic movement.

Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule told news agency IANS, “Fifteen members of Parliament from 10 political parties had gone to the Ghazipur border. But the Delhi Police stopped us from meeting the farmers; we will raise this issue with the Lok Sabha Speaker.”

The opposition parties’ members, while discussing the farmers’ protests in parliament on Wednesday, asked the government to repeal the three farm laws and also sought strong action against those involved in the Republic Day violence.

Thousands of farmers have been protesting at Delhi borders since November 26 last year to demand the repeal of three contentious farm laws.

The protesting farmers are demanding that the three farm laws be repealed and legislation for the minimum support system for their crops. The farmers feel that the three law would leave them vulnerable to the big corporate houses and do away with the wholesale market system.

The government and farmer unions have been holding talks to end this deadlock but the talks have failed to end this protest. The government has refused to take back the laws but has offered to make amendments to it.