Hundreds of farmers from Punjab were stopped at the state’s border with Haryana on Tuesday while trying to enter Delhi for a Kisan Mahapanchayat, or farmers’ congregation, to protest against the proposed trade deal between India and the United States, NDTV reported.

The day-long gathering was scheduled to be held at Kisan Ghat in Delhi on Tuesday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Haryana government erected concrete barricades and placed cement blocks at the Shambhu border, PTI reported.

The protesters then staged a sit-in at the border, accusing the Haryana and Punjab governments of preventing them from travelling to Delhi. Punjab is ruled by the Aam Aadmi Party.

The Shambhu border was similarly barricaded in February 2024 when farmers’ groups from Punjab had begun to march to Delhi to push for a law guaranteeing a minimum support price for agricultural commodities.

On February 7, India and the US issued a joint statement outlining the framework for an interim trade deal between the two countries.

The framework stated that New Delhi would “eliminate or reduce tariffs” on all industrial goods and a range of agricultural products imported from the US.

These include dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits.

Farmer groups have opposed the deal, claiming that allowing cheaper agricultural imports would adversely affect India's farming sector.

They said that the deal would also affect agricultural labourers, livestock rearers, small traders and micro industries.

The farmers want the India-US trade deal to be “completely scrapped”, PTI quoted Punjab farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher as saying.

The farmers’ march came a day after the Cockroach Janta Party’s demonstration in Delhi demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged mismanagement of competitive examinations.

The CJP had planned a march to Parliament to coincide with the start of the Monsoon Session.

The CJP had planned a march to Parliament, coinciding with the start of the Monsoon Session.

While police stopped the protest leaders from proceeding, some demonstrators moved closer to Parliament and gathered at other locations in central Delhi. Security personnel later fired tear gas shells at and lathi-charged protesters during the demonstration, Scroll reported.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.