Don’t cremate my body until CM meets our demands, Maharashtra farmer writes in suicide note
Mumbai city news: The suicide comes as the ongoing farmers’ stir entered the eighth day in Maharashtra
A farmer in Solapur hanged himself from a tree near his home, and has left a note saying he should not be cremated until the chief minister visits his village and meets the demands of the farmers.
The suicide comes as the ongoing farmers’ stir entered the eighth day in Maharashtra.
Dhanaji Jadhav, 45, hung himself from a tree near his house at Veet village in Karmala tehsil on Wednesday night, Solapur collector Rajendra Bhosale said.
The Karmala police said Jadhav’s suicide note was addressed to his friends and relatives.
It read: “I am a farmer, Dhanaji Chandrakant Jadhav. I am committing suicide today. Please take my body to my village and do not cremate me till CM Devendra Fadnavis comes here.”
Bhosale confirmed the farmer’s suicide note said his body should not be cremated until the chief minister visits and announces a loan waiver for the farmers.
READ: After quelling Maratha protests, Maharashtra CM must now act to pacify farmers on strike
On Thursday, Solapur’s guardian minister Vijay Deshmukh reached the village. The Jadhav has a wife and two children and was the eldest son in his family. He owned 2.5 acres of cultivable land, but was weighed down by a debt of Rs60,000. The police said he had also taken loans from private lenders.
After the incident, farmers’ organisations in the area held to a ‘rasta-roko’, or a road blockade, and called that a bandh be called in the Karmala tehsil.
Police teams have also been rushed to the spot to prevent the situation from spiralling into a law and order issue, the collector said.
CM Devendra Fadnavis has been under attack by opposition parties and the BJP’s ally Shiv Sena over the state’s handling of the protests by farmers across Maharashtra for the past week. The protests have led to a rise in prices i cities such as Mumbai and Pune.
Even a recent statement by the CM promising a loan waiver for some farmers by October 31 has not pacified a section of the agitating farmers.