India / We must postpone protest, 2 farmers died due to COVID: Farmer union

New Delhi: At a time when the nation is fighting the second wave of coronavirus, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Kisan Sarkar) spokesperson Bhopal Singh on Thursday appealed to protesting farmers to postpone their agitation for the time being saying we must be the nation in these difficult times.

"Two farmers died at Singhu border due to corona. If farmers keep dying like this who will agitate? So I'd like to request farmers that looking at the crisis in the country, we must postpone agitation for the time being," Bhopal Singh said.

"If farmers survive, only then will we be called 'anndata'. We will be called that only if we will be able to save our crops & lives. We will carry out the agitation in future, but the situation is not right now. We must be with the nation in these difficult times," Bhopal Singh.

On Wednesday, two farmers from Punjab, who were part of the group protesting against the new farm laws, passed away with one of them found COVID positive, officials said on Wednesday.

The two farmers – Balbir Singh (50) and Mahender Singh (70) – residents of Patiala and Ludhiana respectively – died on Tuesday. They were part of the group protesting near the Singhu Border.

Sonipat's Chief Medical Officer Jaswant Singh Punia said Balbir had been suffering from fever for a couple of days.

He was declared brought dead at a government hospital and a test revealed that he had COVID, said Punia. Rai Station House Officer (SHO) Bijender Singh, however, said they were yet to receive the report from the health officials.

Mahender's body was sent for post-mortem and the exact cause of his death was yet to be ascertained, said Kundli SHO Ravi Kumar.

Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and elsewhere have been protesting at various border points near Delhi, including Singhu and Tikri, for the past six months demanding rollback of the Centre's new farm laws.