NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D Raja, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren were among the first to reach the Ramlila Maidan.

Addressing a press conference on the rally, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi will address the rally, among other senior leaders.

The farmers raised slogans against the Union government at the protest venue. A farmer from Punjab asked for action against the accused in violence that erupted in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri in October 2021. Mahapanchayat has led to traffic snarls at the National Capital.

The Delhi Police has given permission to the farmers to hold the event on the conditions that there would not be a gathering of more than 5,000 people, no tractor-trolleys and no march to the Ramlila Maidan.