Reacting to a Sikh priest’s alleged death by suicide at Delhi border, senior Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed the Centre for not accepting the protesting farmers’ demand of a repeal of the three contentious farm laws.
He said the Narendra Modi government has crossed “all the limits of cruelty.”Gandhi said the government must immediately withdraw the laws.”Sant Baba Ram Singh from Karnal died by suicide over the farmers’ condition, at Kundli border. My condolences in this moment of grief… many farmers have sacrificed their lives. The Modi government has crossed all the limits of cruelty. Stop being so adamant, take back the anti-farmer laws,” he tweeted in Hindi.
The priest of a Gurdwara in Haryana, Baba Ram Singh, who joined the farmers’ protest last evening, has died by committing suicide. The 65-year-old has shot himself, said reports.Baba Ram Singh was at the Delhi-Sonipat border at Kundli on Tuesday evening, which is just 2 km away from the Singhu border, the epicentre of the farmers’ protest.According to reports, the priest left a suicide note where he said he was sacrificing his life “to express anger and pain against the government’s injustice”.
I feel the pain of farmers fighting to ensure their rights… I share their pain because the government is not doing justice to them. To inflict injustice is a sin, but it is also a sin to tolerate injustice. To support farmers, some have returned their awards to the government. I have decided to sacrifice myself,” the note he left read, as per media reports.He was rushed to a hospital in Panipat, where he was declared brought dead.His body is now being shifted to Karnal, where he lived, said reports.Reacting to the death, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which had ended its alliance with the ruling BJP at the Centre after being slammed over the passage of the three laws, demanded that they be revoked immediately.
Shocked and deeply pained to learn of the demise of Sant Baba Ram Singh Ji and the circumstances surrounding the tragedy. I urge GOI to understand the gravity of the situation regarding the 3 Agri Acts because of which it happened and revoke these immediately,” Parkash Singh Badal, the party chief, said.
Hundreds of farmers, mostly from Punjab, are camping at Delhi’s Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Chilla (Delhi-Noida) border points since the end of November over their demands that the three contentious farm laws of the Centre be repealed.The protest by farmers now continues for 21 days.More than 20 of the protesters have died so far, the farmers’ representatives said on Tuesday.A farmer leader from Maharashtra, Rishipal, told media that one farmer has died every day on an average since the protest started.
