As Farmers’ protest entered Day 37 according to union leader 50 farmers so far have died so far during the agitation,
Amid freezing temperatures in Delhi and adjoining areas, a farmer from Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh died near Ghazipur border yesterday while protesting against new agricultural laws enacted by the central government.
The farmer, Galtan Singh (57) was a resident of Bhagwanpur Nagal village in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh.
The farmers have been demanding the withdrawal of the three laws and legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) which is declared every year by the Centre for 23 crops while the government has assured them that it will accept their two more demands related to stubble burning and electricity subsidies.
Farmers’ protest is going on at Singhu border, Tikri border and Ghazipur border amid severe cold condition in Delhi and NCR as the mercury plummeted to 1.1 degree Celsius on the New Year’s day on Friday.
A 75-year-old farmer protesting against the Centre’s new agri laws allegedly hanged himself at the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border in Ghazipur on Saturday morning.
Sardar Kashmir Singh, a native of Bilaspur in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district, hanged himself in a mobile toilet using a rope, police said. Deputy Superintendent of Police of Indirapuram Anshu Jain told PTI that a suicide note written in Gurumukhi was found on him.
Singh wrote in the suicide note that the government must repeal these farm laws as these are against the interests of farmers, according to a leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).
The BKU and several other farmer unions have been spearheading the protest against the legislations at various border points of Delhi for over a month now. In the purported suicide note, Singh expressed anguish that though some people from Punjab died during the agitation, no one from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand has sacrificed his life for the cause.
Hardening their position ahead of the next round of talks with the government, protesting farmer unions on Saturday said they will take out a tractor parade towards Delhi on January 26, when the country will celebrate Republic Day,
if their demands are not met. Addressing a press conference, the union leaders said time has come for “decisive” action as their demands have not been addressed by the government yet.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade at Rajpath on January 26. Farmer leader Darshan Pal Singh said their proposed parade will be called “Kisan Parade” and it will be be held after the Republic Day parade.
The next round of talks between the government and the protesting farmer unions is scheduled to be held on January 4.
On Friday, the unions had announced that they would have to take firm steps if the meeting fails to resolve the deadlock. After the press conference, farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar told PTI that farm unions are hopeful for the January 4 meeting, but they cannot trust the government going by their experience with them.
