Farmer suicide: Amid blame-game, mixed political reactions

There have been mixed political reactions to the public suicide of Gajendra Singh, a farmer from Rajasthan’s Dausa, on Wednesday at an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rally against the Land Acquisition Bill, at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have lost no time in placing the blame squarely on AAP, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, which had initially taken a combative stance and claimed conspiracy behind the suicide, has tempered its approach since. 

On Friday, Kejriwal conceded it was a ‘mistake’ to not to call off the rally. “I was to deliver an hour-long speech but I wrapped it up in 10-15 minutes. I think that was my mistake. Probably I should not have spoken. If that has hurt anyone’s sentiments I would like to apologise.”

Party spokesperson Ashutosh said: “In hindsight, maybe our judgment was wrong. Maybe we could've stopped the rally. But we thought we should keep the crowd distracted to avoid a stampede-like situation.”

The Delhi chief minister was roundly criticised for continuing with his speech even after the incident on Wednesday. 

“You can’t make the farmer a spectacle, a showpiece of your office. You can’t make a theatrical of the suicide scene in your rally,” said BJP leader and Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar. 

Communist Party of India (Marxist), however, chose not to attack the AAP for the incident. Its member of Parliament M B Rajesh said in the Lok Sabha that the root cause of agrarian distress is “neo-liberal policies” and “succumbing to free market”.

Kejriwal’s apology on Friday, too, was slammed by other political parties. 

Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit said the former should be careful with his public statements. According to Dikshit, Kejriwal’s actions and statements don’t behove his position as a chief minister. 

Criticising the AAP, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati said: “I just want to say to Kejriwalji that by apologising, the farmer (Gajendra Singh) will not come back. If they (AAP) wanted, they could have made Gajendra come down. There were many party volunteers.” 

“The question arises now of whether Delhi is in Safe hands,” tweeted Union Minister of State for Skill Development, Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

In the first information report (FIR), the Delhi Police has charged the AAP with instigating Gajendra Singh to commit suicide. According to the FIR, AAP workers were clapping when the farmer was about to hang himself and the workers also did not cooperate. 

“Policemen at the spot alerted the control room and asked for a fire tender with a long ladder, so that this person could be brought down. The Delhi police tried to stop the crowd from provoking Gajendra. In such cases, people involved in such acts should be engaged in conversation and persuaded. But the people at the rally kept clapping, making noise,” Rajnath Singh said in Parliament. 

Meanwhile, Ashutosh said the party has serious doubts about the probe being conducted by the Delhi Police.  "This whole incident should be investigated by an impartial authority... Police was insensitive at the rally in front of the media in spite of repeated requests to save the farmer. Now, they are putting the blame on us. The home minister was making a statement given by the Delhi Police. This shows there is a larger conspiracy," he said.

Ashutosh said a “three-member independent committee” should investigate the incident.

The Congress has reportedly demanded a judicial probe into the incident. 

Terming the Modi-led government's response to farmers' distress 'disappointing', Congress spokesperson R P N Singh said had the Centre declared minimum support price for farm produce, it would have benefited farmers like Gajendra Singh. He alleged about 2,000 farmers have committed suicide in the past month alone.