An Opposition delegation led by Rahul Gandhi on Friday joined the farmers’ protest at Jantar Mantar in an expression of solidarity and iterated the demand for the repeal of the three controversial farm laws.

This was the first time a joint Opposition team had visited the protesting farmers, who have through their eight-month-old agitation at Delhi’s borders scrupulously avoided seeking political support.

Not allowed to speak from the protest platform, the Opposition members sat at the venue for some time, expressed support and returned.

While the farmers are agitating at three places on Delhi’s borders, 200 of them are allowed to come to Jantar Mantar daily to hold a symbolic protest.

“We came here to extend our support to the demand for the repeal of three black laws,” Rahul told the media after the visit.

“You know what is happening in Parliament. We want to discuss Pegasus but the government is not allowing it. Modi has entered every Indian’s phone,” Rahul said.

The Opposition has been demanding a debate in Parliament on the Pegasus snooping allegations, followed by a discussion on the farmers’ movement and issues such as the price rise.

Rahul expressed his sentiments by tweeting a tweaked version of a Hindi poem.

The tweeted version went: “Chulha mitti ka/ Mitti taalab ki/ Taalab hamare do ka/ Hal hamare do ka/ Hal ki mooth par hatheli kisan ki/ Fasal hamare do ki/ Kuaan hamare do ka/ Khet-khalihaan hamare do ke/ PM hamare do ke/ Phir kisan ka kya/ Kisan ke liye hum.”

While the original poem portrayed how the farmer did all the work but the harvest, field, bullocks, plough, pond and well belonged to the “Thakur” or landowner, Rahul’s version replaced the Thakur with “hamare do”.

Rahul has been taunting the government with the “hum do, hamare do” slogan, suggesting that the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duopoly is serving solely the interests of Adani and Ambani.

The agitating farmers too have targeted Adani and Ambani, saying the new farm laws have been enacted to favour the two corporate groups. They have boycotted Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio telecom service and cited the construction of massive silos in Punjab and Haryana as evidence of Adani’s foray into the agricultural trade.

Rahul has repeatedly accused the Modi government of conspiring to hand over agriculture trade worth Rs 25 lakh crore to Adani and Ambani.

Friday’s Jantar Mantar visit was a follow-up to two recent events: one, Rahul calling a meeting of all Opposition MPs and two, the former Congress president driving a tractor to Parliament to draw attention to the almost forgotten farmers’ movement.

Inside Parliament, some Opposition members have tried to raise the farmers’ agitation amid the din only to have their microphones switched off.

The farmers too have adopted innovative measures to attract attention. They are holding a mock Parliament at Jantar Mantar, where Friday’s agenda was a no-confidence motion against the Modi government.

While the farmers have taken a public stand not to allow politicians to hijack the agitation, they feel the Opposition could have done more to put pressure on the government through an independent action plan.

The Congress has supported the farmers from the beginning, with Rahul holding a tractor rally in Punjab, party MPs from Punjab sitting on a dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, and party workers demonstrating in every state capital.

Friday’s programme, however, also flagged the strains and conflicts within the Opposition.

At a meeting of all the Opposition parties, the Aam Aadmi Party had already expressed inability to accompany the Congress to the farmers’ protest, implicitly pointing to the electoral compulsions in Punjab. The AAP is the main challenger to the Congress in Punjab, which goes to the polls early next year.

Even Trinamul didn’t accompany the Opposition delegation to Jantar Mantar, triggering a few murmurs of disapproval. However, Trinamul sources blamed a communication gap and asserted their party was fully with the Opposition in the struggle against the Modi government.

A Trinamul leader said the party had as far back as Tuesday decided a programme to visit the farmers’ protest at Jantar Mantar.

“So we went today at 10am. We came to know about the Congress plan to go there at noon only after our MPs had already gone there,” the source said.

The members of the delegation were from the Congress, DMK, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, CPM, CPI, Indian Union Muslim League, RSP, National Conference and the Loktantrik Janata Dal.