More farmers from Punjab, Haryana join in as some protesters taken into 'preventive custody'

New delhi/gurugram: More farmers from Punjab and Haryana trickled in at the Singhu border on tractor-trolleys and cars on Tuesday amid heavy security presence as a nationwide protest called by their representatives against the Centre's three new agricultural laws was underway.

The 'Bharat Bandh', however, hit the supply of essentials, including rice, wheat flour, lentils, oil, milk, soap and toothpaste, for the protesters camping at the border for the 13th day on the trot.

"Obviously, the rations supply will be hit. But we have enough stacked up for another 2-3 months. We have come prepared for a long haul," Gurjaint Singh from Panipat said.

But the numbers have started to swell as many more are coming in on bicycles and carts, he said.

Meanwhile, as the protests continued across the country, close to 100 protesters from the CPI(M) were taken into "preventive custody" in Bilaspur. Rajya Sabha MP from the party, KK Ragesh, was also one among those detained on Tuesday while protesting the farm laws.

Other political parties like the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) also came together on a single platform for protesting against three farm bills. The number of these protestors also increased with a large number of village panchayats and social organisations joining the protests.

"We understand that losses have been incurred by traders and industrialists for a long period of lockdown we have had. We therefore only requested them that if it's possible to suspend your commercial operations for some time. Our fight against these bills will continue and as time passes our support base is only getting larger," said Mahender Singh Thakran, the village head of Jharsa, which is among the prominent village panchayats in Gurugram that have rendered their support to the protesting farmers.

(With Agency inputs)