A 65-year-old Sikh priest, Sant Baba Ram Singh, committed suicide at one of the farmers protest sites in the Indian capital New Delhi on late Wednesday, said police.
In his suicide note doing the rounds on social media, Singh said he was “hurt to see the condition” of the protesting farmers.
His postmortem was done at a government hospital in Karnal district of his home state of Haryana.
Farmers have been protesting for nearly a month over the reforms, enacted in September, to deregulate the agriculture sector, allowing farmers to sell to buyers beyond government-regulated wholesale markets.
Blaming government apathy for Singh’s suicide, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration should immediately repeal the laws.
The reforms, contained in three laws, loosen rules around the sale, pricing and storage of farm produce, while farmers say that new rules threaten their livelihood.
Modi has tried to assure farmers the changes will bring them new opportunities but few have been convinced. Several rounds of talks between farm union leaders and the government have failed.
