Farmer's suicide: Moily demands judicial probe, says 'apology not enough'

Congress leader Veerappa Moily on Friday demanded a judicial probe into the suicide of a farmer named Gajendra Singh at the Aam Aadmi Party's rally, and said a mere apology on part of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would not be enough.

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"Apology alone will not be enough, but ultimately, there is laxity on

the part of the people who organised the rally. Even 75 minutes after

the suicide, the speeches went on. And, I think, the time has come to

not only inquire into this but the entire questions of farmers suicide

all over the country which includes the lowest agriculture credit

which is given in the current year," Moily told the media here.

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"There should be a judicial probe to look into all these things by a

sitting Supreme Court judge that alone can being out some solution.

And ultimately, what is important is solution for the problems of the

farmers," he added.

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Earlier in the day, Kejriwal acknowledged that he had made a mistake

by continuing to speak at his party's 'Kisan Rally', even as the

farmer had committed suicide, admitting that he should have called off

the rally.

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"Two days ago, during the Aam Aadmi Party's 'Kisan Rally' at Jantar

Mantar, a farmer committed suicide. It was a very painful event and

personally for me it was more painful as I have not experienced

anything like this ever before in my life. When his body was brought

down, we got to know he was still alive and he was rushed to the

hospital by Aam Aadmi Party volunteers. After that I started to give

my speech and said 'I don't feel like talking'," Kejriwal told ANI.

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"I was supposed to speak for an hour, but somehow tried to wrap it up

in 15-20 minutes. I think, yes, this was my mistake. Maybe I should

not have spoken at that time. But, I could not make it out at that

time. I apologise if anyone's sentiments have been hurt by it," he

added.

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Kejriwal further said that the debates surrounding the issue over the

past two days have not helped solve the issues of the farmer.

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"Whatever is going on from last two-three days is not correct. The

police and the magistrate are conducting their respective enquiries.

Whoever is the culprit should be punished. Punish them, but bring back

the focus of debate to the fact that farmers of the country are

committing suicide," he said.

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Gajendra had committed suicide on Wednesday by hanging himself from a

tree during an Aam Aadmi Party rally against the Land Acquisition Bill

in New Delhi.

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As per reports, a suicide note was found that revealed the farmer, who

had three children, was banished from his house after his crop was

damaged. He took the extreme step because he had no means of support

his family.