Willing to take blame for Gajendra's suicide as long as debate comes back to plight of farmers: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said he is willing to take the blame for farmer Gajendra Singh's public suicide at an Aam Aadmi Party rally in the national capital, as long as the debate veers back to the plight of the farmers in the country.

"Yesterday, the entire day, the only question all the media channels were running was why has Kejriwal not given a statement. Now that I am making my statement, you are accusing me of playing politics. I have spoken all that I wanted to on the subject. You are free to draw whatever conclusions you want to. But I request you to stop going on and on about it. It is not helping the farmers in the slightest. The only thing it is doing is to increase your TRPs," Kejriwal said, in an exclusive interview with ANI.

"I will take the blame for it. I freely admit that I am guilty. Now that blame has been appropriated, can we start talking about the farmers? I am willing to say that I am guilty as long as the debate turns to the farmers. Punish the guilty as long as the debate comes back to the issue of the farmers," he added.

Kejriwal further said he wants farmers across the country to be happy, that admitting that he should called off the rally after Gajendra's death.

"I am doing all I can for Delhi's farmers. When their crops were affected, I personally went to their villages and gave them their compensation. The farmers of Delhi are happy but I want a similar thing to happen with farmers across the country," he said.

"Having said that, I made a mistake; I should have called off the rally," he added.

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.

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.