A 65-year-old ‘sant’ reportedly committed suicide by shooting himself dead at Singhu border on Wednesday evening. The deceased has been identified as Baba Ram Singh of Singhra village in Nissing area of Karnal district. He was admitted to a private hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.
Baba Ram Singh was a saint and was on the seat of Gurdwara Sahib Nanaksar Singhra village. He had a large number of followers.
According to his suicide letter, found near his body, he shot himself in solidarity with the protesters. According to the reports, 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.
In the suicide note, the 65-year-old Sikh priest said 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, according to India Today.
“Nobody did anything against the oppression and for the rights of the farmers. Many even expressed their protest by returning awards,” it said.
“This servant commits self-immolation against the government oppression [and] in favour of the farmers. It [The act] is the voice against the oppression and the voice in favour of the farmers,” the suicide note, written in Punjabi said.
SAD spokesperson and Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee president Manjinder Singh Sirsa expressed grief over the incident and urged farmers to exercise restraint. “A very sad news has been received that Sant Ram Singh, who dedicated his life to the service of humanity, committed suicide by shooting himself,” he said on his Twitter handle.
According to Sirsa, the victim wrote in his suicide note that he was unable to to bear the “pain of the farmers”.
It is a sin to suffer atrocity and witness it, which I cannot see, Sirsa said the cleric wrote in his suicide note. Sirsa appealed to farmers to exercise restraint. “It is a very grave time. I request you as the chief sewadar of the DSGMC to exercise restraint because anybody can do mischief in the farmers' agitation. It is a very sad incident for all of us but we need to be restrained,” said Sirsa.
Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and other state have been protesting near the Delhi borders for the past three weeks, demanding that the Centre’s farm laws be repealed.