New Delhi: Tragedy usually unites but political parties are seldom known to have displayed such camaraderie. The suicide of a farmer from Rajasthan at Delhi's Jantar Mantar while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was holding a rally against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government has started an ugly and bizarre war of words between different political outfits.
The man, identified as Gajendra Singh, climbed a tree as top AAP leaders were present at the Jantar Mantar, near Parliament, and hanged himself with a piece of cloth. Even as some people climbed up to save him, the branch gave away and he fell. Gajendra Singh, a resident of Nangal Jhamarwada village in Dausa, also left a suicide note stating that he had three children and had been disowned by his father due to crop damage after recent rains and hailstorm.
His tragic death had led to a blamegame between AAP, BJP and Congress with none of the parties showing any kind of remorse and instead pointing fingers at their rivals.
While the BJP blamed AAP for the suicide, Delhi Chief Arvind Kejriwal accused the police of inaction and said it was an attempt to "sabotage" his party's rally. He also taunted the media for not saving Singh. His party colleague Ashutosh made a ridiculous comment that AAP workers are not trained to climb trees and so they failed to save the farmer.
AAP leader Kumar Vishwas too trained guns at the controversial Land Acquisition Bill and alleged that the farmer's suicide had exposed the Central government. "We will not let his sacrifice go in vain and continue our fight against Land Acquisition Bill. Government should be sensitive towards the farmers' issue," he said.
Congress too blamed the Narendra Modi government for farmers' distress. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said farmers are being punished by the Modi government. He assured Congress support to the farmers and said, "We will help the family in transporting the body. I want to tell the farmers that they should not be afraid and that we will help them."
On the other hand BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra blamed Kejriwal for not trying to save the farmer's life as he was too busy in focusing on politics and speech. "Delhi CM kept watching and finished his speech despite knowing that he is dead. He kept truth at bay, focused on politics and speech. Humanity died today," he said.
"It's unfortunate that politics has become more important than lives of farmer," he added.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Rajnath Singh directed a probe into the suicide. He spoke to Delhi Police Commissioner BS Basssi and asked him to investigate the suicide.
A purported suicide note was also recovered from the spot in which Gajendra Singh mentioned that he is a farmer and his crops have been destroyed. He has also written his family's contact number.
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