Monday morning witnessed the suicide attempt of one of the farmers protesting at the Delhi border demanding for the repeal of the 3 contentious farm laws. The 65-year-old agriculturist tried to kill self by consuming a poisonous commodity On Haryana border’s Singhu.
After arriving at the protest site of Singhu in the early morning today, Niranjan Singh was immediately taken to Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak following his extreme step. He got treated at the hospital and his condition is told to be stable now as he is out of danger.
Responding to the questions pertaining to his suicide attempt, the farmer blew out at the Home Minister and Prime Minister of India, holding them responsible for forcing him to make the move.
“I am feeling good. This government at least acts when an incident like suicide happens. In normal course, if a person attempts suicide, the one who pushes the victim to suicide is booked by the police. In my case, Amit Shah and PM Modi should be booked,” he said to the media after gaining consciousness in the hospital.
“How will anyone survive if farmers do not?” he asked.
Reports, mentioning the death of another farmer by suicide on Monday have also surfaced where the resident of Ferozepur in Punjab killed himself after coming back from the protest site. Kulbir Singh had Rs. 8 lakh debts on his head to repay, officials said.
Over 30 farmers have died since the start of the protest as the angry agriculturists tolerated the lathi charges, shells of tear gas, water cannons, etc., while on their way to the national capital to mount pressure on the Centre to take back its laws seen as a threat to the already meagre livelihood of the farmers. Sunday was mourned as a Homage Day (Shradhanjali Diwas) in tribute to the farmers who passed away.
One among the dead is a 22-year-old farmer hailing from Punjab, according to police, who killed himself post reaching his Bathinda district’s house from the protest place of Delhi.
A gurudwara priest’s suicide took the country by storm as he had joined the protest of the farmers last week and later shot himself to death. The incident took place in Kundli, close to 2km from Singhu in the Delhi-Sonipat border region.
The death brought the outcry from people of various sectors of the country, including leaders like Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. They slammed the Central government for taking the issue lightly and not taking required actions to resolve the woes of the farmers.
Rahul Gandhi had tweeted saying, “The Modi government has crossed all limits of cruelty. Stop being adamant, take back the anti-farmer laws.”
Despite several discussions, no conclusion has been reached at on the protests’ front as neither of the parties are ready to budge from their point. While the farmers are seeking a complete removal of the new farm laws, the government says it is willing to only change sections of the clauses and not the entire law.
According to the Central government, the agriculture laws will open new doors for the farmers to sell their harvest. However, farmers greatly oppose the notion and say that controversial laws will rob them of MSP, while also casting a shadow on their basic income source when big business houses step into the market.
With the indefinite relay hunger strike started this morning, the farmers aim to pressurize the government to listen to their worries that have forced them to travel hundreds of miles to give their voice for attaining justice. As the PM’s Mann Ki Baat is scheduled to be telecasted on December 27th, the farmers have asked their supporters to carry out a thali banging event while the speech is being delivered.
