As the worry about ‘fate of the farmers’ protests’ ate him up, a 55-year-old farmer committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance. The farmers committed suicide at a farmers’ protest site at Khatkar toll plaza in Jind district on Wednesday.
The name of the deceased farmer was Zile Singh. He was a resident of Khatkar village. He had been providing services like serving food and tea to the farmers at the toll plaza for months since farmers’ protests began. As a small farmer, he owned two acres of land.
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Other farmers who knew him said that he seemed to be in depression for the last 3-4 days. The issue of farm-laws was taking a toll on him. They also said that he used to often discuss the rigid stand taken by the central government.
Azad Singh is the district BKU leader. He said that Zile Singh was visibly upset and was concerned about the fate of the ongoing farmers’ agitation. Singh is survived by his wife and three children.
Azad Singh also said that Zile was alone at the shed last night after other farmers went back home. A group of farmers arrived in the morning in his shed & found him lying in the bed in an unconscious condition and a bottle of poison was recovered from the shed.
Azad Singh said that they have taken the body to the Narwana civil hospital for postmortem examination. He added that they have informed the police.
Currently, farmers are in no mood to spare any political party. Farmers’ protests have dented the credibility of BJP which was reflected in assembly election results. An incident in Anandpur Sahib pointed out that their anger will not even spare Congress leaders. On Tuesday, Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari was visiting SBS Nagar district to dedicate developmental projects to the area. He was greeted there with a protest by members of the Doaba Kisan Union in Bharta Kalan village. He had to cancel his visit to another village, Bazidpur, where some farmers had gathered for a similar show of anger.
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As the farmers’ protests crossed 200 days, many farmers are wary about the outcome of the protests and the struggle, like Zile Singh. The farmers have endured cold, lathi-charges, water cannons, rains, floods at the protest sites, Covid19 & internet black out by government. Despite all of the troubles, they have hold their ground at the protests-sites. Some amount of solace for the farmers came in the form of defeat of BJP in West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The farmers had campaigned against the BJP in West Bengal and are planning to rally again in UP ahead of assembly election due next year. The Republic day violence and the second wave of Covid19 pandemic have been observed to be the reasons of waning of the tide of the protests. But, most farmers are still hopeful that their protests will bear results as they are determined to not return home empty handed.
