His name was Gajendra, said the Delhi Police, while giving details about the farmer from Dausa in Rajasthan who committed suicide at the Aam Aadmi Party rally today in the capital. Till this afternoon he had no name, like most farmers who have killed themselves over the years.
Gajendra was just another helpless farmer from Nangal Jhamarwada village, a father of three who had been disowned by his kin after rain and hailstorm damaged his crop.
He was in distress, like lakhs of farmers in the country, many of whom commit suicide away from the media glare. But Gajendra could have been saved as he climbed a tree in public while Arvind Kejriwal's party leaders waxed eloquent on the performance of his two-month-old government. Some people shouted at the farmer, the rest watched, some cameras got exclusive footage.
In deep pain, the farmer wanted to send out a message to our political outfits to stop playing their political games at the expense of his ilk. Gajendra, who died before reaching the hospital, indeed ended up teaching us a lesson at the cost of his life. He now lies in a mortuary at the hospital. From now on he will be just another number in a long list of farmers who committed suicide.
They say art imitates life and today's shameful political blame game after the farmer died, proves it. For many of us who watched the film Peepli Live, the cast of characters in today's gruesome episode seemed so familiar. While I write this I feel ashamed of myself for drawing parallels in this tragic episode with a movie script. But this is exactly where Indian polity has left us.
When the man was being taken to hospital, Arvind Kejriwal took to the mic blaming the Delhi Police for the incident. He did not fail to remind us that Delhi Police is outside his jurisdiction; he accused the police of being politically motivated and so deliberately not helping the poor man.
The Aam Aadmi's self-appointed representative could have perhaps given the man some dignity in his death.
The theatre of absurd had only begun. His party leader Somnath Bharti alleged that the suicide was politically motivated and that there was a conspiracy to defame AAP.
Not to be left behind, the BJP's ever-so-efficient spokesperson Sambit Patra dressed in a crisp yellow shirt and operating from his air-conditioned room, mocked AAP for not being able to save the farmer. Sambit was articulate as usual and did not falter on punctuation or rhythm.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP leader Satish Upadhyay too decided to jump into the fray when he alleged that his partymen saw AAP workers encouraging the farmer to climb the tree and commit suicide.
And now for the grand old party. As I write Rahul Gandhi has just exited Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, where the farmer was taken, with reporters craving his reaction. His former MP from Dausa, Sachin Pilot expressed his pain and used the occasion to let us know that the present day government had made life miserable for farmers.
Sachin conveniently forgot to tell us about a farmer, also called Gajendra, who committed suicide in Yavatmal in 2012 while his party's government was in power. Gajendra had written a note to his fellow villagers not vote for the Congress-NCP combine that ruled Maharashtra, before consuming petrol.
While our politicians played to the gallery in the most sickening manner today, some of our TV journalists did a walk-through just below the tree where we are told Gajendra hanged himself with a piece of cloth.
Details about the tree and the manner in which the farmer killed himself were recounted with precision and the reaction from farmers was sought. Yes, another farmer was asked how it felt. He turned around and asked the reporter if he knew how successive governments have made farming a difficult profession, how their land is being snatched from them.
As I conclude this, most of our top politicians have visited RML hospital in Delhi, while some have reached Dausa to meet the family members of Gajendra. Ashutosh and Kumar Vishwas of AAP held a press conference telling us that the BJP had no business to blame them for the suicide as Narendra Modi too continued with his speech in Patna, Bihar, as bombs went off, two years ago.
While you watch all this, wait a moment, pause and think of Gajendra. He died desperately drawing our attention to the plight of many like him who die a thousand deaths each day as they see their starving children. We can be assured at least by the blame game that we are witnessing now, that though there will be no end to the distress of the kisaan of this land, Gajendra will posthumously get much television space the next few days.
Parliamentarians will hurl accuses and abuses at each other over the issue and we will wait with bated breath to hear how Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi frame their politically correct response. For all you know, some leader will in time pose happily with the family of Gajendra with a cheque to compensate for his life.
In his death, Gajendra has mocked us and our shallow dialogue on farmer suicide and the land acquisition ordinance. In his death, Gajendra has exposed the heartless Indian politician who will stop at nothing to claim his few minutes of fame. When was the last time we remembered a farmer? Well, we remembered a widow named Kalavati from Yavatmal whose husband, a farmer, killed himself. It is Kalavati's name that is etched in our memory as TV journalists flocked her humble residence after Rahul Gandhi enlightened us that he met her while on a tour of the state.
I will not be the least bit surprised when our PM, who has returned from his Europe trip post signing a very important Rafael arms deal, also tweets in solidarity with Gajendra. Yes, the 36 "ready-to-fly" French-made Rafale fighter jets that the likes of Gajendra would have never heard of.
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Rana Ayyub is an award-winning investigative journalist and political writer. She is working on a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which will be published later this year.)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.