PM Modi Cancelling Farm Laws Is His Biggest Policy Reversal Yet
NDTV
In a televised address to the nation on Friday, PM Modi apologized for failing to convince a section of farmers and said the parliament will repeal the legislation by end of the month.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will scrap three controversial farm laws that led to angry street protests over the last year, his biggest policy reversal since assuming power in 2014.
In a televised address to the nation on Friday, PM Modi apologized for failing to convince a section of farmers and said the parliament will repeal the legislation by end of the month.
"The purpose of the new laws was to strengthen the country's farmers, especially small farmers," he said. "We have failed to convince some farmers despite all our efforts."
The announcement comes ahead of key provincial polls in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab where farmers are an influential voting bloc. The long drawn protests by hundreds of thousands of farmers could have hurt his Bharatiya Janata Party's chances in both elections. The government had, so far, refused to budge from its position which the protesters claimed would ruin their livelihoods, making it the longest stand-off since PM Modi swept to power seven years ago.
