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Fatehgarh Sahib, India – On the morning of November 10, the tall body of Gurpreet Singh was found hanging from a Singhu tree on the outskirts of the Indian capital New Delhi, where thousands of farmers have been camping. more than a year to protest against a set of farm laws passed by the government.
Gurpreet, a 45-year-old landless farmer, did not leave a suicide note, but was found engraved with the word “zimmedar” (responsible) on his lifeless left hand.
Gurpreet only returned to the protest site two days ago from Roorke, his hometown in the Fatehgarh Sahib district of Punjab state, where he rented 0.4 hectares of land.
In his last days, he told his members that he was 250 kilometers (155 miles) away from his time in the village and the protest site. Barely unable to manage his life, he was disturbed by the impasse.
“No one thought he would take that extreme step,” said Lovepreet Singh, his 20-year-old son, who received a photo of WhatsApp’s father’s body that morning.
“It made me cringe. I couldn’t believe my eyes. ‘
Farmers’ unions are claiming hundreds of deaths
Gurpreet killed himself 10 days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi U-turn surprise, announced that controversial farm laws would be repealed. On Monday, the Indian Parliament passed a bill repeal all three laws The Modi government approved it in September last year.
The government enacted laws to allow farmers to market their products and promote production through private investment.
But farmers, especially in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, rejected the laws, saying they would take away corporate ownership of the agricultural sector and deny them a guaranteed aid price (MSP) for their products. government.
To meet their demands, thousands of farmers began their march to New Delhi in November last year. When they stopped entering the capital, they decided to camp in three areas of the city, where they remain despite the repeal of farm laws. Now they want the government to pass a law that guarantees MSP and address other issues that they have.
In the annual protest, Gurpreet’s death was not isolated. He was the ninth farmer to commit suicide. cold, record rain, smog and heat.
But the Modi government says there is no record of farmers ’deaths, and they demand anger and compensation from the families of the dead, whom farmers call“ shaheed ”(martyrs). SKM also demands the allocation of land to build a memorial to the martyrs in Singhu.
But Gurpreet’s family has conflicting opinions on the issue. “I wish I could have waited a few days before taking this step,” 40-year-old widow Mandeep Kaur told Al Jazeera.
“Everyone calls my husband a martyr but what about us? What can we do without him? ”
Mandeep Kaur prepares breakfast at his home in the Fatehgarh Sahib district of Punjab [Sukhman Billing/Al Jazeera]Gurpreet’s family says he began to avoid their calls and began to stay away after joining the protest in early November.
“A day before he died, around noon, he turned off the phone after talking to us. The next day, we got a call from his phone and a farmer chief informed us that he was no more, ”Mandeep told Al Jazeera.
“If we had even the slightest suggestion, we would have stopped. I would go there myself. I would ask someone to help me, but we wouldn’t lose. ‘
Small landless farmers paid the most costs
Karnail Singh, a 75-year-old landless farmer from the Punjabi village of Sherpur, died in December last year in Tikrin, one of the three main protest sites outside New Delhi, after falling ill.
A month later, 45-year-old Nirmal Singh, a landless farmer from the Punjab town of Dhaula, also committed suicide at the same site. He is survived by his wife and two children.
In March, Sukhpal Singh, 40, another landless farmer in the Punjab town of Baalianwali, died of food poisoning in protests. His family has more than $ 6,700 to pay off the debt.
Contrary to the government’s claim that “large farmers” are mostly behind the farmers ’protest, in a study by Punjabi University, Patiala found that almost all of the farmers killed in the movement were landless or small farmers with less than 3 acres (1.2 hectares). ) plot.
The dead farmers were small or landless farmers who make up the lowest level of the farming community in India. Their deaths mean poor families, many of whom are now in debt.
Gurpreet’s son says that in 2000 he owned 4 acres (1.6 acres) of land. “In 2007, our entire vegetable crop failed due to a natural disaster. My father was forced to sell the lands of our ancestors to pay off a huge debt, ”Lovepreet told Al Jazeera.
The Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) -Siddhupur, which was affiliated with the Gurpreet farmers ’union, helped him rent a car, which doubled as a dairyman and taxi driver to earn a living. Eventually, he began renting land for vegetables and fodder for his animals.
“Even though my husband paid all the debts, we barely met our goals. It was always a hand-to-mouth situation. Now that he’s gone, we’re in God’s mercy, ”Mandeep said.
The Punjab government has announced that it will provide jobs and funds to the family of the deceased for compassionate reasons, while some NGOs provide financial assistance.
But Gurpreet’s family has yet to receive support for the delay in issuing the death certificate. “Over the months, BKU-Siddhupur donated 50,000 rupees to us [$672] along with some food to hold on to, ”Mandeep told Al Jazeera.
“Death doesn’t scare us anymore”
Gurjinder Singh, a 28-year-old caller from BKU-Siddhupur, was one of the first to visit Singhu after Gurpreet’s death. “I got a call early in the morning. They informed me that they had found someone hanging from the village of Roorkee on the border of Singhu, ”he said.
“I’ve seen so many deaths in the last year, it doesn’t scare me at all. But it was hard for Lovepreet to cry all the time. We decided we wouldn’t let him see his father’s body until he was home. ‘
Lakhwinder Singh, a professor of economics at Punjabi University, who recorded the deaths of farmers during the protest, said: “In Punjab, the land is traditionally considered the ‘mother’, while farming practices are associated with worship. and they were filled with insecurity about the government’s decision on farm laws, a concern that was too heavy for many with harsh conditions during the protest. “
Lovepreet intends to take his father’s place in protest. But his mother Mandeep is worried. “I don’t have the resources to pay for the human costs of this protest. All I have is my son. As a wife, I have lost. Now I can’t lose myself as a mother. ‘
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