‘Sacrificing my body to oppose farm bills’: Farmer ends life at protest site in yet another such incident

In the third incident of suicide linked to the ongoing farmers’ agitation, a farmer identified as Kashmir Singh allegedly hanged himself on Saturday morning at the Ghazipur border protest site, leaving behind a suicide note accusing the Central government of not paying attention to farmers’ demands and being responsible for their current condition.

Kashmir Singh, who hailed from Pashiapur village in Rampur, was found hanging from the ceiling inside a toilet at Ghazipur, where farmers have been protesting since November 28, as per a report in The Indian Express.

In the suicide note, written in Gurmukhi script, Singh, who was in his 70s, wrote that his death would be his contribution to the agitation.

“I have come to Delhi because the three farm laws… are not in favour of farmers. These are not beneficial to all farmers of India. Farmers want the government to take these bills back. The government is not repealing them. More than 50 farmers from Punjab have already died in this agitation. But no farmer from UP and Uttarakhand has given their lives… (so) I am sacrificing my body to oppose the three farm bills,” it read.

He also expressed his desire in the note that his last rites should be conducted on the UP-Delhi border by his grandchildren, who have also been agitating against the farm bills.

On December 16, 65-year-old Sant Baba Ram Singh, head of Nanaksar Thath Gurdwara in Haryana’s Karnal district had shot himself near Kundli stating that he was pained by the plight of farmers.

In his suicide note, the preacher had said: “I saw the anguish of the farmers. They are suffering on the roads to get their rights. My heart was very pained at this. The government is not doing justice. This is injustice. Oppressing someone is a sin; tolerating oppression is also a sin. People have shown their solidarity with the farmers, and their anger against this injustice, in various ways. Some have returned their awards to express their anger. I am taking my life in support of the farmers, and against the atrocities of the government. This is a voice against injustice. This is a voice in support of the hard-working farmers.”

As reported by National Herald, he had written another letter a couple of days before he took the extreme step, in which he had attacked the BJP and the RSS – which he called ‘a snake winding itself around the farmer community’ – not only for the plight of the agitating farmers, but for trying to “finish the entire Sikh community and the Sikh race”.

On December 27, a lawyer from Punjab ended his life a few kilometres from the site of the farmers' protest at Tikri border.

A suicide note purportedly left behind by the deceased, Amarjit Singh, titled "Letter to Modi, the Dictator", said that he was sacrificing his life in support of the farmers' agitation against the Centre's new farm laws so that the government is compelled to listen to the voice of the people, as reported at the time by National Herald.

The letter allegedly left by Singh stated: "The general public of India has given you absolute majority, power and faith for saving and prosper their life. After independence the common people expected better future in you as Prime Minister. But with great sorrow and pains I have to write that you have become the Prime Minister of Special group like Ambani and Adani etc. The common people like farmers and labours is feeling defrauded by your three agriculture black Bills and worst life is inevitable. The public is on tracks and roads not for votes but for the livelihood of their families and generations, in order to feed some capitalists, you have destroyed the common people and agriculture which is backbone of India. Kindly don't snatch the bread and butter (roti) of farmers, labours and common people for a few capitalists. It is said that you wish for sacrifices like Godhra and also offer my sacrifice in support of this world wide agitation for shaking your deaf and dumb conscious".

On December 21, a 70-year-old farmer from Punjab’s Tarn Taran district had survived an attempt to kill himself at Singhu border after he consumed a poisonous substance. He had drafted a note which read: “I have been watching our brothers, sisters, elders and children sitting on railway tracks and roads, without a roof, under rain, storm and fog. It makes me wonder whether we are people of this country. Why are we getting the treatment of slaves by the government of today? Our ninth Guru Tegh Bahadur had raised his voice against injustice and sacrificed his life… I am sacrificing my life so that our voice can reach the deaf and dumb government”.