Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, 19 November, announced that his government will repeal the three controversial farm laws, against which lakhs of farmers for the past year have been protesting.
The announcement, made on Guru Nanak Jayanti, came as a surprise to many since there was no indication from the saffron party or the Centre on any climb down on the farm laws. At first glance, the rollback of the laws is a major victory for the farmers' movement, and signals that old fashioned non-violent protest do have their way to find chinks in the BJP-led Centre’s strongman image.