Bharat Bandh: Protester dies of heart attack at Singhu border

The Bharat Bandh called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella organisation of more than 40 farmers’ rights groups, received mixed response across the country.

A protester belonging to one of the farmers’ rights groups died on Monday after suffering a heart attack during the stir at Delhi’s Singhu border. Bagel Ram, the 54-year-old protester, was a member of the Kirti Kisan Union, and was present at the protest site in Singhu on Bharat Bandh.

Farmers block the train tracks at a railway station during their' 'Bharat Bandh' against central government's three farm reform laws, in Bahadurgarh.  (PTI Photo)

Gurnam Bhagad, the leader of Kirti Kisan Union, said Bagel Ram was a member of the farmers' outfit. “He was not a farmer but a labourer from Jalandhar and arrived at the Singhu border with one of our groups on September 18. He has been feeling unwell since yesterday and suffered a heart attack this morning.”

Farmers dies by suicide in Punjab

In another incident, a farmer in Ludhiana died by suicide on Sunday after he hanged himself to death hours before the Bharat Bandh commenced. It was unclear whether the ‘suicide’ was an act of protest against the three farm laws which were passed in the Parliament on September 27, last year, during the monsoon session.

The 65-year-old farmer was found hanging from a pipe in the wee hours of Monday by other farmers next to the toll barrier near Ghulal village in Samrala. He along with his wife were protesting against the farm laws at Delhi’s borders for the past 10 months.

The farmers called the nationwide strike to protest against the three farm bills which they claim will lower farm incomes, remove the procurement under the minimum support price (MSP) system and make the agricultural sector profitable for private sector companies.

(With inputs from Kainat Sarfaraz and Tarsem Deogan)