Abandoning controversial farm laws was one of Modi’s biggest policy reversals since assuming power — and a lesson on the drawbacks to his strongman approach.
would have removed state protections that have shielded India's farmers for decades, and subject them to unfettered free-market mechanisms where competition would be high.
"This is not Modi's first public policy failure, though certainly it was the most public reversal," said Akhil Bery, director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute. The political cave in on the agriculture reforms"did show that there are limitations to his power," he told CNBC.
"Yet, when we look at some of the notable attempts to use executive power in this manner, we do not find a lot of successes," he added.