57-Year-Old Farmer from Baghpat Dies at Ghazipur Border Protest Site

Lucknow: As the temperature plunged in Delhi-NCR, a 57- year-old farmer from Bhagwanpur Nagal village of Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district died at the protest site near Ghazipur border on Friday evening.

The deceased, Galtan Singh, was participating in the ongoing farmers’ agitation along with his son Monu against the Centre’s three agriculture laws since the past few days at UP Gate. 

Monu said his father suffered a heart attack on Friday afternoon and was taken to the hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Galtan owns two acres of agricultural land and was the only son of his parents. He is survived by his wife and two children.

"Galtan Singh was fit and fine till morning and took part in the cleanliness drive with other farmers on the occasion of New Year's day. Suddenly he complained of chest pain. We took him to the nearest hospital but he died on the way," Dharmendra Malik, state spokesperson of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) told NewsClick.  

UP GATE BORDER TO WITNESS MORE PROTESTERS 

The over a month-long protest by farmers at UP Gate is likely to see more footfall in the coming days despite the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government’s bid to “create  hurdles” and enhance police scrutiny to stop the movement of farmers going towards the dharna site, said sources. 

As per the register at UP Gate, over 30,000 farmers assembled at the iconic UP Gate in Ghazipur over a week, demanding repeal of the three farm controversial laws and legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP). 

"Since the past one week, the number of agitating farmers is swelling up at the UP-Delhi border. We are noting down the vehicle numbers, Aadhaar card number and addresses of farmers who are coming to join the protest. Under this process, over 30,000 farmers have joined the movement," Taranjit Singh, a farmer who is running the registration campaign, told NewsClick, adding that his campaign runs daily from 9 a.m to 6 p.m, during which the names and addresses of farmers were being recorded.

Singh claimed that 10,000 farmers had registered their presence in the register till December 27 but in three days, the number of farmers had increased to more than 30,000. According to him, once the agitation ends they will form WhatsApp groups on the basis of this registration to solve the farmers' problems at the district level. "

Singh was confident that more farmers would soon join the protest at UP Gate. "If the government delays in accepting the demands of farmers, then the number of farmers reaching the Delhi border may exceed 50,000,” said Singh, adding that earlier there were more farmers from Western Uttar Pradesh, now farmers are coming from even remote areas."

AFTER 32 YEARS, SUCH A LARGE FARMER GATHERING 

Naresh Tikait, national president of BKU said it was after 32 years that such a large gathering of farmers was being seen in UP Gate. In 1988,  lakhs of farmers had gathered to protest in rally on the Boat Club lawns in New Delhi, led by farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, which was successful in securing waiver of power and water bills, and higher price for sugarcane.

Tikait said this was a special occasion as farmers from different regions were meeting each other and sharing experiences. Had this movement not been there, where could have farmers met in this way. He said this movement was a confluence of the farmer fraternity, which the farmers were using to force the adamant government to roll back the controversial farm laws.