A day after farmer suicide, Modi govt attempts to wrest initiative

Rajnath says AAP instigated suicide, land bill to be tabled in Lok Sabha on May 5

A day after a farmer committed suicide at an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rally in the heart of New Delhi, the Narendra Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday tried to wrest the initiative on the issue of agrarian crisis and land acquisition, both inside and outside Parliament. Government sources also said it would stick to its plan of tabling the land Bill in the Lok Sabha on May 5.

The BJP city unit held a protest against AAP, which rules the city government, in the afternoon. Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha that AAP workers instigated Gajendra Singh, the 41-year-old farmer from Rajasthan, to commit suicide. In its First Information Report, lodged on Thursday, the Delhi Police, under the jurisdiction of the Union home ministry, accused AAP volunteers and workers of abetting the suicide. It also said the party’s volunteers obstructed the police from carrying out its duties.

Despite the backlash and concern raised on the plight of farmers following the suicide, the government seemed determined to stick to its plan of tabling the land acquisition Bill in the Lok Sabha in this session of Parliament.

Government officials, unsure about the fate of the Bill until Wednesday, on Thursday said it was erroneous to link the issues, as the suicide was ostensibly linked to an agrarian crisis, not land acquisition.

They added a police probe could unearth a more sinister conspiracy, which went horribly wrong and ended in Singh losing his life. The Delhi Police is also probing whether the farmer was in contact with a top AAP leader, as claimed by his family members. The AAP charged the home minister of “lying”.

The government has taken comfort from the fact that the public discourse, including discussions on the issue in the two Houses of Parliament, focused more on the insensitivity of the AAP leadership in continuing with their anti-land Bill protest rally even after the suicide.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha said the death had caused pain to the entire nation and he shared that pain. He termed the problems of agrarian crisis “very old, deep rooted and widespread”.

The PM reached out to the Opposition when he called for collective resolve to end farmer suicides. He said all had to analyse what the shortcomings had been, before his government came to power as well as in the 10 months of its tenure. “I am open to any suggestion so that a way could be found.”