No other Republic Day—a national holiday in January marking when India became an official republic in 1950—has witnessed such unprecedented levels of public claims over their nation. The streets of Delhi were enlivened with spontaneous marches of hundreds of thousands of peasants who wanted a serious say in Res Publica or public affairs. Within a bouquet of lame excuses intended to stop the peasant march, one had been particularly ironic—that this demonstration was a “conspiracy” to defame India before the world by having a tractor parade in the capital on Republic Day.

The struggling peasants proved that they held high the banner of the “world’s largest democracy,” while the present regime is hell bent on trampling down and doing away with whatever democratic values are left in the country.

Earlier, in an interesting twist to the tale, the Union government on January 20 proposed to suspend the three contentious farm laws for one and a half years, and set up a joint committee to discuss the legislation. However, Samjukta Kisan Morcha rejected the offer the very next day. It resolutely clarified that the movement will continue until the three anti-farmer laws are completely repealed. The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) was also determined to carry out its scheduled tractor parade on Republic day.

Not long after that,the Supreme Court had expressed intentions to stay the implementation of the controversial agricultural laws. It proposed to form an independent committee chaired by a former Chief Justice to “amicably resolve” the stand-off between the farmers and the government. Of course, there were serious questions about the “independence” of the committee. Nevertheless, the first signs of backing down were obvious.