Fasting farmer leader advised hospitalisation

Doctors checking on Punjab farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, whose hunger strike entered its 21st day on Monday, have recommended immediate hospitalisation due to his deteriorating health. However, he has refused to receive any medical treatment.

The 70-year-old Dallewal, a cancer patient, has been on a fast-unto-death at the Khanauri border point between Punjab and Haryana to press the Centre to accept the agitating farmers' demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP on crops.

Sharing details about Dallewal's health, Dr Avtar Singh said, "As per test reports, the creatinine level is increasing and GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is dropping. Ketones are also on a higher side which means his condition is quite bad."

Dr Singh, who is part of a team of doctors from the 5 Rivers Heart Association, an NGO, said Dallewal has not eaten anything. He is just drinking water, the doctor said.

Ketone in urine indicates the body is using fat for energy instead of glucose. Creatinine is a waste product created when muscle cells break down during activity. Kidneys remove creatinine from the blood and put it in urine. But when kidneys do not work properly, creatinine builds up in the blood.

The glomerular filtration rate shows how well the kidneys are filtering.

Dr Singh said Dallewal has turned so weak that he could not stand on his own and required support. A few days ago, his blood pressure was recorded in the range of 80/50 which is not a good sign, he said.

"There is a possibility of cardiac arrest," he further said.

Doctors have installed medical equipment at the protest site to monitor the vitals of Dallewal.

A few days ago, Dr Karan Jatwani, an oncologist, visited the Khanauri border to examine Dallewal.

Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar, who has been associated with Dallewal for a long time, said he had been on hunger strikes five times. "But this time, Dallewal's fast has stretched longer than the 13-day hunger strike by anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare in 2011."

Dallewal had gone on fast in support of farmers' issues in March 2018, January 2019 and 2021, November 2022 and June 2023.

Punjab Police chief Gaurav Yadav and Director of Ministry of Home Affairs Mayank Mishra met Dallewal on Sunday and enquired about his health.

Kohar said Dallewal had told Yadav and Mishra that the lives of 7 lakh farmers who committed suicide due to the "wrong policies" of governments were more important than his life.

Dallewal will break his fast only if farmers' demands are accepted, he said, adding, "Dallewal is mentally prepared to sacrifice his life if farmers' demands are not accepted by the Centre."

A few days ago, Dallewal wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that ensuring minimum support price to every farmer is like the fundamental right to live.

"I have decided to sacrifice my life to stop the death of farmers. I hope that after my death, the Central government will wake up from its slumber and move towards fulfilling our 13 demands, including the law on MSP," he wrote in the letter.

Dallewal, the president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur), hails from Dallewal village in Faridkot. Before sitting on the indefinite hunger strike, he had transferred his property to his son, daughter-in-law and grandson. His wife passed away in January this year.

Dallewal's BKU (Ekta Sidhupur) was part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which had spearheaded the 2020 farmers' stir against the now-repealed farm laws. But it broke away from the grouping after SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal formed the Samyukta Samaj Morcha to fight the 2022 Punjab assembly polls.

Dallewal later formed the SKM (Non-political) by involving like-minded farmer leaders.

Farmers under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.

A "jatha" (group) of 101 farmers made three attempts to enter Delhi on foot on December 6, December 8 and again on December 14. They were not allowed to proceed by security personnel in Haryana.

Besides a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops, the farmers are demanding a debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands.