Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday he would repeal three agriculture laws that farmers have been protesting against for more than a year, a significant climb-down for the combative leader as important elections loom.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has apologised over the three farm laws over which the government “failed to convince” farmers to accept them for over a year. The repeal of the three farm laws comes as an attempt to demolish an image, as alleged by the Opposition and his critics, that PM Modi is an arrogant leader.

PM Modi said, “I apologise to the people of the country with true and pure heart... we were not able to convince farmers. There must have been some deficiency in our efforts that we could not convince some farmers.”

The farmers began their protest against the three farm laws in July last year in Punjab. They shifted the theatre of protest to Delhi borders in November last year. Around a dozen rounds of talks between the representatives of the farmers and Union ministers failed to resolve the stalemate.

The farmers remained adamant on their demand of repealing the three laws despite the Supreme Court staying the laws' implementation for an indefinite period. The sustained campaign by the farmers and the Modi government’s insistence on staying on the course with the farm laws helped the Opposition fan the narrative that PM Modi was an arrogant leader.

This is possibly only the second time that PM Modi has apologised to people over an issue debated by public at large. His stint at power, first as the Gujarat chief minister and subsequently as the prime minister has been through a number of controversies but PM Modi was not seen as a leader who would apologise under pressure from the Opposition or his critics.

There is a section of society that has been demanding an apology from PM Modi over the 2002 Gujarat riots. As Gujarat chief minister, Modi faced a probe in connection with the riots cases. He was given a clean chit by the court. But he never tendered an apology. The Opposition and a number of activists alleged that the Gujarat government headed by Modi had a role in the riots in which over a 1,000 people were killed.