A day after a farmer from Rajasthan hanged himself at an AAP rally here, the political blame game continued on Thursday as parties raised the issue in both houses of Parliament. Expressing his “anguish” in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said a farmer cannot be left “helpless”. “For several years, farmers’ suicide has been a cause of worry for the nation. The problem is old, deep-rooted and widespread and we have to seek solutions in that context.There should be a collective resolve in this regard. We have an open mind to consider any suggestion that is made,” he said. Read Also: Delhi police in FIR says AAP workers clapped, cheered when he hanged himself “There is nothing bigger than a farmer’s life, nothing bigger than human life. We should see what the shortcomings have been in the past, and in the last ten months,” he said. Earlier in the day, the house witnessed noisy scenes as opposition members demanded an immediate discussion on the issue and sought suspension of question hour. The Congress gave notice for an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha. As Congress members started raising anti-government slogans, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan urged MPs not to “politicise” the issue. Following this, the house was adjourned for a while. Making a statement in the house, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the police did their best to address the situation. “The crowd was clapping and raising slogans. Police requested them to stop raising slogans. Generally, such people (who try to commit suicide) are engaged in dialogue to make them change their mind, but here the crowd was clapping and raising slogans,” he said, terming the incident as “unfortunate and shameful”. Singh said the Delhi Police took prompt steps to deal with the situation by calling the control room and also asking for a fire brigade. He said he had instructed the Delhi Police to conduct a “time-bound inquiry”, even as the opposition demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. Asking for cooperation from the opposition, Singh said both the government and opposition have to find a solution to the problem together. The home minister said the probe has been handed over to the Crime Branch after a criminal case under Sections 306, 186 and 34 of IPC was registered. Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge sought a judicial probe, saying that the Delhi Police would conduct a “one-sided” inquiry. As leaders from across political parties expressed their anguish, they questioned the role of the police personnel, media and crowd at the rally. “When his suicide note fell from his pocket, many (journalists) ran to be the first to grab it. We are humans first and politicians, police and journalists later,” said Congress MP Deependra Hooda as he called for an “introspection”. Many members said the incident and the lack of sensitivity shown by the people present at the spot was “worrisome”. “The farmer who ended his life had come to a rally which was held to protest against the land acquisition Bill. You must withdraw the ordinance. This is like rubbing salt into the wounds of farmers,” said Tariq Anwar. As AAP’s Bhagwant Mann rose to speak, many BJP members attacked him and said he had “no right” to speak. “He (farmer) was unhappy with the system,” Mann said. Meanwhile, CPI(M)’s M B Rajesh termed the incident as “homicide” and said the government was “culpable”, while claiming such incidents were a “direct result of neo-liberal policies pursued by governments in the last 25 years”. He also urged the Prime Minister to “come out of Twitter and see the ground reality”. TMC’s Saugata Roy also took a dig at the Prime Minister and said he would have been happy if instead of Twitter, the Prime Minister had come to the House and expressed his anguish. Roy’s remarks came before Modi’s statement in the House. Later in the afternoon, Kharge sought to raise the matter again. As the Speaker did not allow him to do so, Congress MPs, led by Sonia Gandhi, staged a walkout from the house.
