Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday termed the alleged suicide of a "debt-ridden" farmer in Uttar Pradesh as "heart-wrenching" and said the condition of farmers under the BJP rule is "exposing all lies" of the government. The 45-year-old farmer allegedly died by suicide at Biharipur village in Baghpat on Tuesday, as he was unable to repay his loans, according to his relatives.
"The incident of suicide by a debt-ridden farmer in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, is extremely heart-wrenching! Such conditions of farmers under BJP rule are exposing all the lies of the government. After all, till when will the farmers of the state endure all this?," Akhilesh said in a tweet in Hindi with hashtag #Nahi_Chahiye_BJP. The farmer, Chaudhary Anil Kumar, was found hanging from a tree in his neighbour's field.
Relatives of the deceased had told reporters that he had taken a bank loan of about Rs7 lakh and Rs3 lakh from a local moneylender. They said he was under pressure to repay the loans, and as he was unable to clear the debts, he took an extreme step. Kotwali police station in-charge Ajay Kumar Sharma had, however, said they were told that he was depressed but nobody informed them about his loan.
In a separate tweet, Yadav appealed to the people of Uttar Pradesh, well-wishers of farmers, workers of the SP and its allies to observe 'Lakhimpur Kisan Smriti Diwas'. "Light a 'Kisan smriti deep' (light an earthen lamp in the memory of farmers and honour them," he appealed.
The Samajwadi Party had on Tuesday asked all its workers and allies to observe 'Lakhimpur Kisan Smriti Diwas' on the third of every month to remind people about the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri violence and the "brutality of the BJP".
Eight people, including four farmers, died after a vehicle carrying BJP workers rammed into the crowd. Infuriated farmers then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles. The other four deceased included two BJP workers, their driver, and a journalist. Farmers claimed that Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra was in one of the vehicles - an allegation denied by him and his father, who say they can produce evidence to prove he was at an event at that time.
Several of the people accused in the case, including Ashish Mishra, are in jail. Following the incident, the BJP, which is in power in Uttar Pradesh and at the Centre, is under attack by the opposition, which is demanding the sacking of the union minister for a fair probe into the matter.
PTI
