THE STEAM and smoke that billow through the encampments that circle India's capital are even thicker than the city's wintertime smog. Hundreds of thousands of angry farmers descended on Delhi seven weeks ago. Stopped at the borders, they pitched tents, blocked traffic, sharpened slogans-and began to cook. Mobile generators power giant automated cha-pati-making machines. Vats of steaming mustard greens hiss at January's chilly dampness. To mark Lohri, a regional festival, the protesters built the usual bonfires, throwing in copies of the three farm-reform acts that Narendra Modi, the prime minister, rushed through parliament in September. Their leaders say they will stay put until the three laws are revoked. On January 12th they almost got their way. The Supreme Court issued an "extraordinary order of stay of implementation of the farm laws". The chief justice, Sharad Arvind Bobde, is presenting the judiciary as an impartial mediator, but would clearly like the farmers to go home. "While we may not stifle a peaceful protest," he said, he nonetheless hoped that the court's order would be "perceived as an achievement" by the farmers and that their leaders would "convince their members to get back to their livelihood."
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