Farmers have been camping on Delhi’s border with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for over two months now, protesting against three farm laws that they say would favour corporate entities and would bring down the curtain on minimum support price (MSP) based procurement by the government. The government has vehemently denied these allegations and stated that MSP will continue.

Naidu, however, allowed members who gave notices to make very brief mentions. Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the farmers have been camping for more than two months and the issue needs to be discussed.

Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC) said the House is not aware of what is going on between the government and farmers and the House should discuss the issue separately from the Motion of Thanks. “We want a discussion on a specific issue,” he said.

While CPI leader Elamaram Kareem said water and electricity supply to the protest sites has been cut, DMK’s Tiruchi Siva said farmers have been sitting on roads for over two months in the bitter cold and the issue needs to be discussed separately. Manoj Jha (RJD) said Parliament should at least discuss the issue.

However, Naidu did not agree to their motion after which the members of Congress, Left, TMC, DMK and RJD staged a walkout.

“No one is stopping you from discussing the issue tomorrow. Tomorrow you will get an opportunity,” he said. Naidu said 10 hours have been allocated for discussion on Motion of Thanks to the President’s address and an equivalent amount given for discussion on the Budget. “Please take the opportunity tomorrow,” he said.