The farmer’s protest took a turn for the worst when Momita Basu (25), daughter of communist leader Utsav Basu from West Bengal, died of Covid-19 on Friday (30 April).
Basu had reached the protest site at the Tikri border on 12 April as the second wave hit India and fell ill on 26 April as per a report published in The Times of India.
She had an infection in her lungs apart from testing positive for Covid-19. It must be noted that so-called farmer leader Rajesh Tikait has vowed not to end his demand risking the lives of many people.
Punjab Kisan Union leader Jasbir Kaur Natt told the reporters: “She was in my direct contact. She was an active girl and was participating in various programmes at the farmer protest. When she felt uneasy on 26 April, my daughter Navkiran Kaur Natt took her to a private hospital at Bahadurgarh. She had to put in a lot of effort to get her admitted to the hospital. In the Covid test, she turned positive and passed away on Friday evening. Her mortal remains were consigned to flames at Bahadurgarh.”
Delhi reported 18,043 new Covid-19 cases, 20,293 discharges and 448 deaths in the last 24 hours (3 May), taking the active cases tally to 89,592.
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