Farmers Pay Tribute to Those Who Lost Their Lives During Protests

Farmers pay tribute to those who lost their lives during the farmers agitation, as they gather at Singhu border.

(Photo:PTI/Kamal Singh)

As their agitation against the Centre’s contentious farm laws entered Day 25 on Sunday, 20 December, farmers across the country paid tribute to their fellow farmers who had lost their lives during the ongoing protests.

“We are paying homage to the farmers who lost their lives during the agitation,” a farmer said, speaking to ANI.

Farmers protesting at the Delhi-UP border joined in to pay homage, while those at Nirankari Samagam ground in Burari took out a procession to pay their tributes. However, the gesture was not restricted to Delhi alone.

"Farmers across the country are paying homage to those martyrs who died during this movement," a farmer said, according to ANI.

Farmer groups in Ranchi also took out a rally to pay homage to their fellow farmers in Delhi.

“We’ve come to pay tribute to 18 farmers who died during the agitation in Delhi. We support the protest,” a farmer in Ranchi told ANI.

Punjab farmer leader Gurvinder Singh, associated with the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), said that condolence meetings are being held in other parts of the country as well, including Punjab and Haryana, according to IANS.

Many farmers have lost their lives amid the continuing protest at the borders of the national capital, which has weathered water cannons, tear gas as well as the cold wave in Delhi.

In the latest such incident, a farmer from Punjab protesting near the Delhi-Haryana border passed away on Thursday, 17 December, allegedly due to cold winter waves. The 37-year-old man was found dead at the site where thousands of farmers have been protesting against the three contentious farm laws.

Just a day before, a 65-year-old priest of a gurudwara in Haryana allegedly died by suicide at the Singhu border protest site on Wednesday, 16 December.

Farmers' organisations, which have been camping at the borders of Delhi since 26 November, have been demanding withdrawal of all three farm laws while the government has proposed amendments involving issues related to the interests of farmers.

(With inputs from ANI and IANS.)