A farmer committed suicide at the Land Bill rally of the Aam Admi Party in Delhi.Prime Minister Narendra Modi expresses his sadness, says no farmer should think he’s alone.The Home Minister directs the Delhi Police to conduct a thorough probe.
The situation at an Aam Admi Party rally in the National Capital to protest against the Centre’s Land Acquisition Bill went horribly wrong when a farmer climbed a tree and hanged himself.
The suicide triggered an outpouring of shock and grief with Prime Minister Narendra Modi also saying no farmer in the country should feel alone but it also let loose a political blame game with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal getting a lot of flack for carrying on with the rally even after the suicide.
It was supposed to be a symbolic political gathering in protest against the land acquisition policy. Instead now it will forever be remembered as the rally where a hapless farmer committed suicide by hanging himself, even as the political slogans continued to rant the air. The farmer has been identified as Gajender, hailing from Dausa in Rajasthan.
In a suicide note that he threw down from the tree before taking the unfortunate extreme step, Gajendra wrote about the tribulations staring at him because of crop failure. (“I am the son of a farmer. I hail from Nangal Jhalawar in Rajasthan’s Dausa. My father kicked me out of the house after my crop got damaged. I have three children but I don’t have any work. Tell me how should I go back home.”)
But perhaps more tragic and shocking was the insensitivity that was on display. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas and even Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal continued with their speeches after party volunteers brought Gajendra down and rushed him to RML hospital.
The rally continued for more than 74 minutes after that incident, indicating the preference AAP leaders chose to give to their event vis a vis the suicide attempt.
Political parties too expressed shock and dismay, both at the unfortunate suicide and also at the way it was handled by AAP.
The avoidable incident has left an indelible mark for everyone who was present at jantar mantar on Wednesday.
Far from it, it has really put a big question mark on the way issue is sought to be tackled. Are we as a society becoming so absorbed in trying to raise an issue that the same issue takes a virtual back seat when we are confronted with the challenge to come good to what we claim to do so often. That is a big questions which confronts the entire nation and its capital today.