Pune, Sep 19 In a shocking incident, penniless and frustrated Maharashtra farmer Dashrath L. Kedari jumped into a village pond to end his life after penning a note in which he mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi while spelling his plight, his grieving family said here on Monday.
According to Kedari's brother-in-law Arvind Waghmare, the incident took place in Bankarphata village on Saturday where Kedari worked as a farmer for the past eight years.
"That day, he seemed very depressed, but he conveyed his wishes for a long life to the PM, and then jumped into the nearby pond and killed himself. A suicide note was recovered later," Waghmare told .
The opposition Shiv Sena has slammed the state government for its failure to protect farmers reeling under a severe agrarian crisis with a record number of farmland suicides clocked this year.
In his suicide note, Kedari said that it was due to the government's failure on ensuring Minimum Support Price that he was compelled to end his life as he was hounded by debtors.
He rued how the state was not giving MSP to onion, tomato and other cultivators who were ravaged by the recent floods and the losses of the pandemic.
"What should we do... Modi Saheb. We are not begging for alms, but what is rightly due to us. MSP must be given to us as the money-lenders are threatening us. Nobody takes risks like the farmers... where do we go with our grievances," Kedari said.
Shiv Sena spokespersons Kishore Tiwari and Manisha Kayande slammed the government for its failure on tackling the agrarian crisis in the state which has resulted in despair with a spate of suicides.
Shooting a letter to the Prime Minister, Tiwari, who is also the President of Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavlamban Mission
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor