Delhi Police did not react in time to save the farmer who committed suicide on Wednesday at an AAP rally here, party leader Kumar Vishwas said.
He told the media that he and other Aam Aadmi Party leaders, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, started asking police to bring down the man, identified as Gajendra Singh, from the tree but to no avail.
"Police did not play their role properly. Police should have made efforts to save Gajendra Singh's life. It were AAP activists who put their lives at risk and brought him down and took him to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital," he said.
Expressing grief over the death of the farmer, Kumar Vishwas said it was a very unfortunate moment. The death revealed the sad state of farmers in the country.
"Gajendra's decision to take this extreme step is his biggest statement revealing the plight of thousands of farmers whose crops have been damaged and are now facing the danger of acquisition of their land," he said.
Asked why the rally was not stopped after the incident, party leader Sanjay Singh said: "If we had stopped the rally, there would have been a stampede or other law and order problems.
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"We asked people to remain calm."
Party leader Ashutosh appealed to political parties and the central government "not to politicise the issue".
"We all should take some concrete steps to solve the problems of farmers so that such incidents can be prevented," he said.