Bharat Bandh: Mixed response, protest goes on

The Bharat Bandh on Tuesday, December 8 went of peacefully. As several news reports attest, the bandh—called by farmers' organisations and a few trade unions—saw a mixed response across the country, with the north Indian states of Punjab and Haryana being the worst affected.

The protesting farmers who have assembled on the outskirts of Delhi, near its borders, continued with their agitation. Although the national capital was not extensively affected, the crowd near the protesting sites grew in size.

On Tuesday, in a bid to diffuse the farmer-government standoff, union home minister, Amit Shah, met with a delegation of 13 farmer leaders, but the deadlock continued.

A sixth round of talks between the government and the agitating farmers are slated to take place on Wednesday, December 9. However, farmer leaders have said they will not be attending any talks, and would instead discuss the government proposals internally. The union cabinet is also slated to meet today.

The Fortune India photo team travelled across the national capital region in order to photograph the progress of the bandh, and also to chronicle the mood in the protest sites.