AAP today hit back at BJP for its attack on Arvind Kejriwal for continuing with his speech even as the tragedy of the farmer's suicide unfolded at Jantar Mantar, claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone ahead with a rally in Patna even after the venue was struck by blasts.
"BJP should be the last party to complain as, for the Patna rally, Modi had carried on despite the blasts. We did not go ahead with a march on Parliament to avoid a law and order situation," said AAP leader Sanjay Singh.
Another party leader, Kumar Vishwas, said BJP was using the farmer's suicide to try and divert the attention away from the real issue of farmers' distress.
"In death, Gajendra (Singh, the deceased farmer) has given the biggest statement on the plight of farmers in the country. BJP is trying to deflect the attention away from the real issue.
"Our volunteers tried their best to save Gajendra, putting their own lives at risk; and the official statement of his death came after the rally was over.
"Initially, we thought he was in a critical state. Senior officials were rushed to hospital and, later, Arvind and Manish went to see him," Vishwas said.
In another sharp reaction, party leader Ashutosh said that the next time anybody tries to commit suicide, he would tell Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal to rescue him.
"If Arvind had stopped his speech midway, there would have been a stampede-like situation. And why are we being blamed? What did the policemen do? Not even a single policeman moved despite repeated requests by the CM.
"The next time anyone tries to commit suicide, I will ask the Delhi CM to climb the tree and save him," he said before, later, apologising for the statement.
Five people were killed on October 27, 2013, in seven low-intensity serial blasts in Patna of which six bombs went off in and around the venue of Modi's mega rally at Gandhi Maidan shortly before his address before a huge gathering.
