AAP to pay Rs. 10 lakh to farmer’s family
New Delhi: The suicide by a farmer here during an AAP rally caused an uproar in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, with opposition leaders demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement.
An uproar was caused soon after the zero hour with some opposition members trooping to the chairman’s podium. Opposition members demanded a statement from Prime Minister Modi over the issue.
After a brief adjournment, as the house reassembled, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad blamed the central government of NDA and AAP government in Delhi for the suicide.
As Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said government is ready for a debate and the home minister will answer, opposition members again created an uproar leading to a short 15-minute adjournment.
Meanwhile in Rajasthan, Gajendra Singh, who committed suicide at an Aam Aadmi Party rally in Delhi, was on Thursday cremated at his native village in the district, with a large number of people including politicians converging here. Singh’s elder son Bittu, 12, performed the last rites after the body was taken in a large procession for cremation.
Leaders from both ruling BJP and opposition Congress announced assistance for the family. Arun Chaturvedi, Rajasthan Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, said BJP would pay a compensation of Rs four lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased.
Chaturvedi said Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is also likely to announce ex-gratia for the farmer’s family. State Congress chief Sachin Pilot said his party would support the family in whatever way possible. According to officials, the farmer’s body was taken last night to Rajgarh in Alwar district, which is 30 km away from his village Nangal Jhamarwada. Due to his niece’s wedding, the body was brought to the village only this morning after the ‘baraat’ (wedding party) left the village. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Pilot were among those present on Thursday.
“It is a very tragic incident and we are here to offer whatever support we can to the family. Farmers are distraught and feeling helpless.
There has been a system failure,” Pilot said. Gehlot said it was clear that the government was not taking the issue seriously and demanded that it annouce a package for the farmers. A pall of gloom has descended on the village after 41-year-old Singh, a father of three, committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in public view at an AAP rally on Wednesday in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The cremation took place around 12:15 hours. Local MLA Alka Gurjar, NPP leader and MLA K L Meena, former union minister N N Meena and senior officials including Divisional Commissioner and Superintendent pf Poloce of Dausa were present during the cremation, SHO Bandikui Laxmi Kant Sharma said. Dausa is about 60 kms from Rajasthan capital Jaipur.
Meanwhile on Thursday, Delhi’s ruling AAP announced a compensation of Rs.10 lakh to the family of a Rajasthan farmer who killed himself at a party rally here a day earlier.
Making the announcement, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh said that his party activists tried but failed to save Gajendra Singh after he hanged himself from a tree at the site.
He added that Delhi Police were very much to blame for the death on Wednesday because they failed to intervene despite repeated appeals from AAP leaders.
“The truth of what happened (yesterday) is captured on your cameras,” Sanjay Singh told the media. “The way the police acted was insensitive and incompetent.”
The AAP leader accused the central government, which controls Delhi Police, of hoisting a concocted case against the AAP over the death of the farmer.
The dramatic suicide took place at a rally in the heart of the capital called by the Aam Admi Party (AAP) to denounce the land ordinance. (IANS/PTI)