Farmer suicide: Who is to blame for Gajendra Singh's death?

The death of Gajendra Singh has kicked up a storm that has been brewing for a while. Incidents of farmer suicides are not new to our country but a farmer committing suicide in full view of politicians and media has surely shook everyone to their core.

While it is still not clear whether this was a planned stunt or a deliberate suicide attempt by the Rajasthani farmer, people and politicians have already embroiled in a blame game.

Singh attempted to commit suicide during Arvind Kejriwal's rally yesterday in Delhi. While it took a while for the people to realise what was happening, he was brought down by AAP volunteers who rushed him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

So who is to be blamed for Singh's drastic step? Do we blame the Centre that is already neck-deep in farmer issues or do we blame the AAP who carried on with the rally inspite of the incident, or do we blame the Delhi Police for their inaction?

Blame game continues

While the rest of the country is still coming to terms with Singh's drastic step, politicians have already jumped the blame-game bandwagon and are hitting out at the administration, the government and everybody for his death [Farmer suicide: Delhi govt does not wish to engage in any blame game, says Kejriwal]

The AAP blamed the Delhi Police for being mere 'mute spectators' who did nothing to save the farmer. Kejriwal also blamed Narendra Modi's government saying that the controversial land bill had failed to look after the interest of the farmers.

BJP and Congress on the other hand joined forces and slammed AAP and Arvind Kejriwal for continuing with the rally even when a man tried to commit suicide in front of them.

Delhi Police blames AAP

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police claims that it had written to the AAP urging them to shift the rally to a bigger venue. According to reports, Delhi Police had urged the organisers to move to a bigger venue like the Ramlila Maidan [Farmer suicide: Suicide or abetment, 3 questions must be answered]

Delhi Police felt that it would be easier to control the crowd if the venue was bigger than that of Jantar Mantar.

Everybody wants to wash their hands off the case

By blaming each other, everybody wants to wash their hands off the case. Some facts even point out that the entire incident may have been planned and that the stunt may have gone horribly wrong [Farmer suicide: A political stunt gone wrong?]

Some reports suggest that AAP leader Manish Sisodia had called Singh specifically for the event. It is after all the first time that a farmer committed suicide in full view of politicians and media.

It is still not clear what drove him to take this extreme step, whether it was the government's ignorant nature towards farmers plight or whether this was a planned stunt, it is his family that will suffer from his demise.