A picture of Gajendra Singh, the farmer from Rajasthan, shortly before he hanged hmself at an AAP rally on Wednesday. (Press Trust of India)
Parliament witnessed a furore today over the death of Gajendra Singh, the farmer from Rajasthan who hanged himself at an AAP rally on Wednesday. The issue saw heated discussions in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
This is a very important issue. The government has no problem in discussing this important issue in the House. It should not be politicised.
Venkaiah Naidu, Parliamentary Affairs Minister
Why wasn't the farmer stopped as the events unfolded? Why did the police no come forward? Responsibility needs to be fixed. We are humans first, politicians, journalists second. Media should have been humane too. We want the government to think of loan waivers for farmers. I demand, on behalf of the Congress, that the Prime Minister come and speak on what his government is doing.
Deepender Singh Hooda, Congress lawmaker
How unresponsive and unsympathetic has our polity and society become? No one took steps to persuade him to come down. He climbed tree at 12:50, hung himself at 1:50. Don't want to make a political point but I think is unfortunate that the AAP rally and speeches went on while this man was committing suicide. I think we should order a judicial inquiry into why no one acted when the drama was played out in full view. I saw the PM's tweet. I would have been happy if he came to the House and expressed his anguish.
Saugata Roy, Trinamool lawmaker
This isn't an isolated incident. A farmer commits suicide every 30 minutes. This is a direct result of the neo-liberal policies pursued by various government. This isn't suicide, this is homicide and the culpability lies with the government. I request the PM to come out of Twitter and see the ground reality.
MB Rajesh, CPM lawmaker
Make farmers independent, you will not need to take loans from any country in the world.
Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief
Centre should look at waiving farm loans. There have been many announcements made by the Centre and state governments but the farmers are not getting adequate compensation in time. So, I request that the procedure for giving compensation be changed.
Mayawati, Bahujan Samaj Party chief
The government's procurement policy can provide relief. The crop that farmers have managed to salvage from the unseasonal rains should be procured immediately by the government.
Sharad Yadav, JD(U) leader
The incident is indeed very tragic and shameful. Such incidents should not be politicised. Opposition and the government should get together and think of ways to get farmers out of this crisis. The investigation has been handed to the crime branch of the Delhi Police. I have asked police to investigate this in a time-bound manner.
Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister
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