Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tore up copies of the farm bills during a special Assembly session on December 17. He urged the government "not to become worse than Britishers". Kejriwal also asked the centre "what was the hurry to get the farm laws passed during pandemic”. Hours later the BJP hit back. Earlier MLAs from Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, Mahendra Goyal & Somnath Bharti also tore up copies as bills to counter those passed by the centre in September were tabled. Delhi is set to become the third state (after Congress-led Punjab & Rajasthan) to pass legislation designed to counter the centre's laws. On December 17, the Supreme Court, while hearing a clutch of petitions on the issue, said that while protests may continue they could not be allowed to block access to the national capital. Multiple rounds of talks between the farmers and the centre have, so far, failed to resolve the stand-off.