Thousands of farmers holding red flags who arrived in Mumbai yesterday reached the Azad Maidan before the crack of dawn. At least 50,000 farmers walked through the night so that students who will be writing their Board exams today aren't inconvenienced. A lit-up Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus provided a spectacular backdrop as the farmer contingent, swelling by the day, marched to folk songs.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had appealed to farmers not to hold up traffic and cause problems for Class 10 students. "I have only made an appeal that they should not cause any problem to the traffic since it's an exam day and more than one lakh students will get affected," Mr Fadnavis said.

More than 50K farmers march, being referred to as "sea of red" now, has so far been peaceful and didn't affect traffic in Mumbai on Sunday when they entered the city after an 180-km walk from Nashik, led by the Left-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

The farmers, who had camped at the KJ Somaiya Ground in Sion, began moving towards the Azad Maidan, about 15 km away, a little after midnight. They will spend the next few hours at the Maidan as they negotiate with the government before gheraoing the Vidhan Sabha, two kms from here, as was planned before the farmers began their gruelling long march on Tuesday. A complete loan waiver and transfer of land to tribal farmers are among their key demands.

Visuals from #Mumbai's Azad Maidan where members of All India Kisan Sabha have gathered to protest. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/tcjv5Yjivm Via @ANI

— Amit Dutta (@iamitdutt) March 12, 2018