Chandigarh, March 4 -- When thousands of farmers from Punjab started their Delhi Chalo march on February 13 to press for legally guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) on all crops, farm loan waiver and other demands, they were aiming for a rerun of their 2020-2021 stir that had forced the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre to repeal its three contentious farm laws.

But this time, the protesters' convoys of tractor-trolleys have not been able to make it past the Punjab-Haryana border. They were met with concrete blocks, barbed wires and firing of tear gas and rubber bullets at the Haryana border itself, thwarting their plans to enter the state like the last time when they had parked themselves on Hary...