By Vivek Gupta
Sixty-two days of protest and 170 deaths so far—this is a colossal price that farmers have paid to sustain their relentless protest against the Centre’s farm laws ever since they arrived at the gates of Delhi.
While the protesters were on the backfoot after the Republic Day incident at the Red Fort and violence inside Delhi, yet, as farm outfits have underlined, the “indiscipline” and “ulterior motives” of a few do not define their movement and they will stay put as earlier, whatever the price.
Jagmohan Singh, general secretary, BhartiyaKisan Union (Dakaunda), who is also the media coordinator of the SamyuktaKisanMorcha, a group of 30 farm unions leading the protest, said they are keeping a proper record of farmers’ deaths ever since their protests on the outskirts of Delhi began on 26 November. It shows a total of 170 deaths as of 27 January.
The death toll includes all those who died of heart attacks, infections and cold strokes at various protest sites at Delhi’s Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders.
Several deaths took place due to accidents as farmers made their way to Delhi or back home to Punjab or Haryana. Another category was deaths due to suicide, while some died of illnesses they picked up at the borders after they returned home, he said.
As per their list, Punjab has seen the maximum loss of life with 147 deaths, followed by 19 from Haryana and five from other states.
Jagmohan says farmers have already suffered greatly for their protest, and there would be no point in going back under pressure from the government or any other outfit.
Travel to any part of Punjab, grief follows everywhere. So does anger against the Centre.
Sukhpal Singh, 62, of village Fatta Maluka in Mansa district, had two sons. The older one, Inderjeet, settled in Canada and the younger, Jatinder, lived with him. Last year, on 11 October, Jatinder married Gurvinder Kaur, from a neighbouring district, with much fanfare.
But just two months and six days after his wedding, on 17 December, Jatinder met with an accident near Hisar in Haryana while he was on his way to the protest site at Tikri. He later died in a hospital.
All hell broke loose at his house. “My daughter-in-law is still inconsolable and so are we. We don’t know how we will spend the rest of our lives without him,” Sukhpal says between sobs.
He says, “My older son has left Canada permanently and shifted here as we were left alone after Jatinder’s death, but there is a huge hole in my heart that can never be filled.”
He says Jatinder was not aligned with any farmer organisation. Yet, in solidarity with farmers, he picked his tractor and proceeded towards Delhi along with a few other villagers.
His vehicle developed some technical fault near Hisar. As he was repairing it, a canter hit the stationary vehicle from the rear. A big tyre ran over him and he died later of injuries sustained.
“This had to happen when rulers of the country turn against its people,” says Sukhpal, criticising the ruling National Democratic Alliance government for the controversial agriculture bills that have forced farmers to march towards Delhi at great risk.
He says he can only hope the government repeals these laws and stops the spate of deaths that has left a large number of families in extreme pain.
There are tragic stories of children becoming fatherless at a tender age and grieving fathers lighting the pyres of dead sons.
Thirty-one-year-old Jagseer Singh of village Bhadra in Mansa district of Punjab joined a protest at Tikri on 26 December. Three days later, he was hit by an unknown vehicle near Pakora Chowk in nearby Bahadurgarh, Haryana. He died later due to severe head injuries.
The incident has left his wife, Ramandeep Kaur, in a permanent state of shock and his two children, an eleven-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son, are now fatherless.
“Not a day has passed since my brother’s death that my parents have not cried. His children often ask for their father. I console them but cannot replace their father. God knows how my family will come out of this tragedy,” says Jagseer’s younger brother Gurjant Singh.
He says the state government gave a cheque of Rs.5 lakh to the family after his brother died, but the amount is insufficient. Jagseer was in debt of Rs.6 lakh. “I request the government to waive it [the cash] off and offer a government job to his wife so that she can raise her children,” says Gurjant.
Fifty-eight-year-old Jagtar Singh from village Makhowal in district Nawanshahr, Punjab, never imagined he would light his son’s funeral pyre one day.
He said his son, Gurpreet Singh, 21, had gone to protest at Singhu, but on 16 December, when Gurpreet was on his way back, he met with an accident near Ambala and later died due to his injuries. “My son often told me that I need not take care of the fields; he will take care of everything. Little did I know that he will go away, leaving us distraught,” says Jagtar.
He blamed the Centre for his son’s death. So many lives could have been saved if the Centre had taken back these laws, says Jagtar, but the government is still plotting against farmers, trying to break their protest, not caring how many more will die, how many more fathers will be in grief and how many more children orphaned.
The tragedy in the home of 33-year-old Ajay Singh from Baroda Mor village in the Gohana block of Haryana’s Sonepat district was equally sad. He died of a cold stroke on 9 December.
He had slept off in an open park and died in his sleep. This was the worst tragedy that could befall his 60-year-old father Ishwar Singh. He had lost his younger son to an accident seven years ago.
Most farmers have been sleeping in their trolleys, stacked with mattresses and blankets, at the protest sites. They light up bonfires to keep themselves warm.
Several non-profit organisations have distributed warm clothes, shoes, socks, gloves, jackets and many have volunteered hot water in large drums for the elderly to bathe in.
On 22 January, Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh announced that his government would provide jobs to one family member of those from the state who died during the farmer agitation on Delhi’s borders.
The offer is in addition to the compensation of Rs.5 lakh that will be given to each family.
But there is a discrepancy in the death toll listed by the government and what farmer unions claim. The Chief Minister has said he has received reports of only 76 farmers dying.
Jagmohan Singh, press coordinator of the KisanMorcha, says they have proper documentary proof, with pictures, of deaths from Punjab being much higher than the government claims. “We will submit our list and proofs to the state government,” he says.
Punjab Kisan Union president Ruldu Singh Mansa said that while the sacrifice of all those farmers who have died so far cannot be compensated, still their families deserve adequate compensation.
“We want the government to award at least Rs.10 lakh as compensation, a government job to their kin and complete debt waiver for families who have lost their dear ones in this protest,” he says. (IPA Service)
Courtesy: The Leaflet
https://www.theleaflet.in/the-price-of-opposing-farm-laws-more-than-two-deaths-a-day/#