Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Saka. My guest today is in the thick of a

political and economic battle in India, which says much about the state of the nation in the era

of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yorendra Yadav is the leader of a small anti-Modi political party who has gained national prominence by becoming

a staunchbacker of the tens of thousands of Indian farmers attempting to block the government's

farm law reforms. Now the battle began last summer when the government rushed through changes to the

long-established system of

state-run crop purchasing, which offered farmers guaranteed prices even in times of

oversupply. The new system invited the private sector to move into the market. The claim was

it would be good for farmers, but they saw it as a pathway to lower prices and a corporate

takeover of their industry. Protests began, tens of thousands headed for Delhi, many by tractor,

and last month there were ugly clashes with police in the centre of Delhi's government district.

The legal changes are for the moment stuck in the courts,

but Mr Modi shows no sign of backing down, nor do the farmers. So could this be the struggle that

defines what Modi's India becomes? Well, Yagendra Yadav joins me now from his home just outside Delhi.

Welcome to Hard Talk.

Thank you.

You are on the coordinating committee of the main group behind the farmer's protests.

We have been watching them for the last weeks and months,

but it does seem as though right now they may be losing momentum.

Is that right?

Not quite.

In an extraordinary movement of this kind, given the size, scale, time, you have a bit of

...