26 January. A day when the Indian state showcases its military might and cultural heritage. The ceremonies along the Rajpath boulevard – renamed ‘Kartavya Path’ by the Modi government – are designed to invoke patriotic fervour while showcasing the power and grandeur of the state. Whether a constitutional republic whose foundations were laid by heroic freedom fighters challenging a colonial empire needs a Soviet-style military ritual and tacky state-sponsored tableaux to keep the nationalistic testosterone pumping is debatable.

But everyone loves a colourful parade, even if it’s ultimately the VVIPs who get a ringside view of the show, while the rest of the country watches it on TV, awestruck, from their homes. In a sense, the parade symbolises the national dominance of New Delhi’s Lutyens’ elite, the very social class that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government claims to despise.

Today, however, one elite has replaced another, the privileged Nehruvian charmed circle having given way to the torchbearers of Hindutva. The Lutyens’ elite today is Team Modi.

The 2021 Republic Day parade, though, was very different. While the jawans marched on Rajpath, kisans agitating against the implementation of the farm laws enacted by the Modi government decided to undertake their own parallel tractor rally as a mark of protest. My reporter instincts suggested that the farmer protest was almost certain to be eventful and would be best covered in the field rather than the comfort of a television studio.

And so, on the bitterly cold night of 25 January, with the city engulfed in dense fog, we drove cautiously with hazard lights blinking to the Singhu border near Haryana, ground zero of the farmer agitation. We found accommodation after midnight in a ramshackle bed-and-breakfast hotel along the highway and barely managed a few hours’ sleep.

By 8 am the next day, we were in the midst of a large crowd of slogan-shouting farmers wearing distinctive colourful turbans, most of them atop their tractors and a few riding horses and motorcycles. The mood was rebellious but festive, with patriotic songs blaring from loudspeakers. Posters of Bhagat Singh were held aloft. The tricolour fluttered in the skyline. Judging by the celebratory atmosphere, we could scarcely have foreseen the drama that was about to unfold. It was close to noon when we first got reports that the farmers’ protest had turned violent in central Delhi.