'This is not suicide. It is homicide'

Saugata Roy (Dum Dum): Madam, on behalf of myself and my party, I express deep anguish and sorrow at the suicide of a farmer, Gajendra Singh Rathore, from (the) Jhamarwara village in Dausa district of Rajasthan. The suicide took place in full view of television cameras while a rally by the Aam Aadmi Party was going on. In the suicide note or the note that fell from his pocket, it was revealed that he had lost his crops. His father had turned him out from the house and he did not know how to feed his three children, which was driving him to desperation.

Now, here, two points emerge from this. One is the immediacy of the matter that how unsympathetic our polity and society have become that he climbed a tree at 12.25 p m. He hanged himself only at 1.50 p m. There were people, there were policemen. Nobody took any step to bring him down or to persuade him to come down. Meanwhile, the media was busy filming what he was trying to do.

The home minister is here. He has said that he will inquire into the matter. But I think he should order a judicial inquiry as to why nobody acted while this drama was played out in full.

Secondly, I do not want to make a political point but it is unfortunate that the Aam Aadmi Party was holding a rally and the rally went on and speeches went on while this man was committing suicide. I think it is an example (of) utterly callous attitude. I have nothing to say. I would not make a political comment.

Farmers' suicide is nothing new in this country. Every year, according to data supplied by the agriculture ministry, on an average, 12,000 people over the last few years are committing suicide. Farmers are committing suicide and, of them, the maximum are from Maharashtra. Now, this man was distressed because his crops have been destroyed. In this house, we have discussed the agrarian crisis. But may I mention that in February and March, many states like Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal were hit by hailstorm followed by untimely excessive rainfall.

This has caused great distress to the farmers. You will be surprised to know that in four days, 17 farmers' death took place in Bareilly alone, and 30 farmers were dead in several north-Indian states. This hides a deep malaise in our system that when a calamity takes place, the government appoints a team headed by an additional secretary. That team goes to the place, finds out the truth and in their bureaucratic style, they submit the report. This man and many farmers at the rally were complaining yesterday that they had not received any compensation for their loss of crops. Now, shall we be bound by bureaucratic rules and practices while people die and commit suicide? I would like a categorical statement from the government today as to when they are going to give full compensation to the farmers.

Madam, what happened yesterday should not happen again. As Kirit Somaiya was saying, the country cannot be a spectator to such suicides taking place. I saw a tweet by the prime minister. I would have been very happy if the prime minister, instead of saying it on Twitter, came to the house and expressed his anguish, because this is (the) Lok Sabha, the house of the people and the prime minister is the head of the house, leader of the house and head of the government.

M B Rajesh (Palakkad): This is not an isolated incident. Actually, the data of the National Crime Records Bureau has revealed that a farmer commits suicide every 30 minutes. I do not believe that this is an apolitical issue. If this is not a political issue, then what is the political issue? This has been happening in the last 25 years and this is the direct result of neoliberal policies pursued by various successive governments in the last 25 years.

Madam, the suicide note is a charge-sheet against the neoliberal policies pursued by successive governments, including this Government. And, this is not merely a suicide. It is a homicide and the culpability lies on the government.

This is not an isolated incident. The same thing has happened in my state of Kerala. A farmer, who suffered a massive loss due to price crash of rubber, travelled 500 km from the northern end of Kerala, from Shreemathi Teacher's constituency, to the place of (the) state finance minister and committed suicide. In a 200-page note book, he had narrated his whole experience. The neoliberal policies are responsible for this. Instead of expressing shock and paying homage to the farmer, we should seriously think about reversing these policies.

Bhratruhari Mahtab (Cuttack): Madam, (the) media plays a role, no doubt, but the camera has no life of its own. The person, who operates the camera, has a life. The newspaper itself becomes lively because of the written words that are printed in the newspaper. This reminds me of an incident some time in 1990 when agitation started in Delhi and a photograph was flashed of an incident occurred in Delhi. A young student of Delhi University burnt himself to death protesting against the Mandal Commission recommendations for reservation. That still photograph brought anguish (to) whoever saw it in the newspapers. Nobody thought about what was logical or illogical for that reservation. But everybody said, "Was it necessary"? Was it necessary for a young boy to burn himself in front of so many people? How can the society become so callous, unsympathetic and unresponsive?

Again, that thing has happened in Delhi yesterday. A person has travelled from Rajasthan to participate in a rally, climbed up a tree, declared and flung the cloth around his neck and committed suicide. That again reminds me of those incidents some 300 years ago that happened in our society when young widows were put on fire and we all celebrated as if that was the tradition this Indian society should celebrate. Today, are we witnessing the same incidents, incident after incident, when farmers are putting themselves to death? Most of us are concerned (about) how the government should behave. We should be more concerned (about) how the society should behave. That is a point of anguish.

We should vociferously and steadfastly say that suicide is a dastardly and cowardly act. Society has a responsibility to say this.

---

Edited excerpts from speeches made by Members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha April 23, 2015, during a discussion on the suicide of a farmer in New Delhi