Indian farmer, 68, refuses hospital care as hunger strike hits 44 days
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Jagjit Singh Dallewal says he is ready to die if government does not heed demands of farmers. The health of an elderly, cancer-stricken farmer who is taking part in a hunger strike in north India worsened on Tuesday as he rejected calls by the Narendra Modi government to end his protest.
![[Farmers take part in a protest demanding minimum crop prices, loan waivers and an investigation into a farmer’s death during their ‘March to Delhi’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/07/10/GettyImages-2074404474.jpg)
Doctors have advised Jagjit Singh Dallewal, 68, who has been on a hunger strike for nearly a month and a half at a makeshift tent city in the Khanauri area of Punjab, be admitted to an intensive care unit after he collapsed on Saturday while addressing farmer protesters.
![[Jagjit Singh Dallewal, centre, addresses a press conference in February 2024]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/07/10/GettyImages-2003047832.jpg)
Mr Dallewal is one of the faces of a fresh round of farmer protests in north India seeking agricultural reforms and fair prices. The first round of protests in 2020-21 saw thousands of farmers camp on the national capital Delhi’s border for nearly a year, forcing the Modi government to repeal a set of contentious farm laws.
![[Jagjit Singh Dallewal inside his tent on the Punjab border on Monday]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/07/10/WhatsApp-Image-2025-01-07-at-3.14.54-PM.jpg)
“His condition is extremely critical and serious. Doctors have requested shifting him to hospital but he has declined medical help saying farm reforms are more important than his body and life,” Abhimanyu Kohar, a young farmer leader who is helping monitor Mr Dallewal’s health, said.
Mr Dallewal, a leader of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, a coalition of over 40 farmer unions, legally transferred his property to his family saying he was ready to die if the government did not heed their demands. “He is unable to stand on his feet, his blood pressure reading is at 75/45,” Mr Kohar said. “We’ve been rubbing his feet constantly and keeping them elevated to ensure blood circulation.”.
