A farmer linked to BKU (Bhartiya Kisan Union) Sidhupur faction was found hanging at the Singhu border today, Wednesday morning.
The farmer identified as Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Amroh district in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib, was protesting against the three agricultural laws at the Singhu border near Delhi and was found hanging on Wednesday.
Gurpreet Singh was associated with the Jagjit Singh Dallewal faction of Bhartiya Kisan Union, Sidhupur.
Kundli Police has sent the body for post-mortem and started an investigation into the death of Gurpreet Singh. The police have not yet revealed the reason behind the death.
Last month, the body of a labourer, Lakhbir Singh, was found tied to a barricade at the Singhu border, with a hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons. Two members of the Nihang order were arrested and two more “surrendered” before Sonipat Police in connection with the lynching incident.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at several Delhi border points, including Singhu and Tikri, since November 26 last year, demanding a complete repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee on minimum support price for their crops.
The Centre, which has held 11 rounds of talks with farmers to break the deadlock, has maintained that the new laws are pro-farmer but the farmers remain unconvinced.
Comment: While the cause of the farmer’s death remains unclear, the previous killings of farmers seem to indicate that these are tactics to intimidate and frighten farmers into subjugation and stop their protests.
The farmers’ protest is the largest in world history in a protest that started against the Center’s three farm laws started on 9 August 2020 until present; however, the protest took a full-fledged revolution where they started camping at the Delhi border on November 26.
While the Centre has insisted that the three laws are good for the farmers, will bring investment to the market, and the MSP system will remain as it is, the farmers remain unconvinced. Their main fear is that the laws will degrade them subserviently in the hands of mega corporates. The end of the ‘mandi system,’ where farmers are assured of a minimum price for their produce would sabotage their control of prices and weaken them and they will lose control over their lands, with little protection from the courts.
The violent Lakhimpur Kheri massacre of farmers with reprisals from the farmers has only complicated matters and mysterious deaths of farmers with the most recent hanging raise questions about the security and safety of farmers.