A farmer from Rajasthan, Gajender Singh Rajput, committed suicide at AAP's kisan rally in Delhi
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has sought a report from the Delhi Police on a Rajasthan
farmer committing suicide at Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital today, as hundreds of shocked protestors, including Delhi chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, watched at an Aam Aadmi Party rally.
Mr Kejriwal has alleged that the police did nothing to save the farmer, who hanged himself from a tree and fell to the ground not far from where the chief minister and other AAP leaders sat at the rally, called to protest against the Centre's land reforms.
The chief minister has been criticised for waiting to address the rally before he visited the hospital to which the farmer was taken.
The Congress' Rajasthan leader Sachin Pilot said, "Saving a person's life is more important than making a political speech... It is sad that no one tried to stop the farmer from killing himself at a rally."
"It's very painful that politics is more important than human life," said Sambit Patra of the BJP, adding, "I am very pained that Arvind Kejriwal said he would continue with his speech and then go to the hospital."
Mr Kejriwal has accused the Delhi Police of not trying to save the man. "Before our eyes he climbed the tree. I kept telling the police to save him. But the police are not in our control, but at least he is under god's control. I am sad that he climbed the tree in front of us but nobody tried to stop him," said the Chief Minister.
It is a sore point with AAP, the ruling party in Delhi, that the city's police reports to the Centre and not the state government.
Rajnath Singh called up Delhi Police chief BS Bassi and asked to be briefed about the sequence of events that led to the suicide and police preparedness at today's AAP rally.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi too visited the hospital. "I don't want to politicise this, but I had raised the issue of farmer suicides in Parliament... It is all because of crony capitalism," Mr Gandhi said, referring to the Modi Government's land acquisition bill, which the Congress opposes and plans to stall in Parliament.
Communist leader Sitaram Yechury also linked farmer suicides to the government's proposed land reforms, which aim at making it easier to acquire land for industrial and infrastructure projects. "An average 46 farmers commit suicide in the country every day. We have raised this with the government as a matter of great concern. But now the land acquisition changes have deepened their worries," Mr Yechury said.
The farmer, Gajendra Singh, left a suicide note in which he said he was unable to fend for his three children any more. He said that he had been thrown out of his home by his father after his crop failed.