Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced that the government will repeal the three farm laws that had led to protests for over a year. The announcement comes after a year of confrontation between the BJP led centre and the farmers protesting at Delhi borders that led to several incidents and deaths.

Addressing the nation, ahead of his three-day-long Uttar Pradesh visit, the prime minister said, “I apologise to India and with a true and pure heart that may be… we were not able to convince farmers [over the farm laws]. I’m here to declare that we have decided to repeal the three farm laws…We will complete all the formalities during Parliament session that begins this month.”

SIKH PRIEST SHOOTS SELF NEAR SINGHU BORDER, DIES

A priest from Haryana’s Karnal died by suicide near the Singhu border in Delhi in solidarity with the farmers protesting against three new farm laws. The deceased, Sant Baba Ram Singh, was a religious preacher with followers in Haryana and Punjab. He was a former office-bearer in many Sikh organisations, including Haryana SGPC. The 65-year-old Sikh priest shot himself with a licensed gun in Kundali, on the Haryana side of the Singhu border.

In the handwritten suicide note, found near his body, Baba Ram Singh said that he was ‘hurt to see the plight of the farmers’ and the “government’s oppression”. “I have witnessed the plight of the farmers, who are on the streets, struggling for their rights. I am hurt to see that the government is not giving them justice. It is a crime. It is a sin to oppress and it is a sin to suffer,” Sant Baba Ram Singh’s suicide note said.

UP FARMER, PROTESTING AT GHAZIPUR BORDER, HANGED SELF, BLAMED GOVT

75-year-old Kashmir Singh from Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district hanged himself to death leaving behind a suicide note in which he allegedly blamed the central government for taking the dire step. According to Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader, Rakesh Tikait, the deceased farmer, in his suicide note, wished to be cremated at the protest site. The incident happened at the Ghazipur border which connects Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

PUNJAB LAWYER KILLS SELF AT DELHI PROTEST SITE

A lawyer from Punjab allegedly died by suicide by consuming poison a few kilometres from the farmers’ protest site at the Tikri border in December last year. According to the report, Singh, in a purported suicide note, said he was sacrificing his life in support of the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s new farm laws so that the government is compelled to listen to the voice of the people.

Singh wrote that the common people such as farmers and labourers are feeling “defrauded” due to the three “black” agriculture laws and “the worst life is inevitable”.

PUNJAB FARMER DIES BY SUICIDE AFTER CONSUMING POISON

Another 40-year-old farmer died by suicide at the Singhu border protest site on the outskirts of Delhi in January. The deceased was identified as 40-year-old Amarinder Singh, a resident of Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab.

FARMERS FOUND HANGING AT SINGHU BORDER

A farmer who was protesting against the three agricultural laws at the Singhu border near Delhi was found dead on November 10. Identified as Gurpreet Singh, he was a resident of Rurki village in Amloh tehsil of Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district. Gurpreet Singh was associated with the Jagjit Singh Dallewal faction of Bhartiya Kisan Union, Sidhupur. Sources told India Today that he was living alone in a tractor-trolley near Ansal Sushant City.