Farmer Gajendra's suicide: Said I'm guilty, can we move on now, says Kejriwal

Two days after farmer Gajendra Singh allegedly committed suicide at an AAP rally in Jantar Mantar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the incident was shocking and he was sorry that he continued with his farmer’s rally even after Singh’s death.

Speaking to ANI, Kejriwal said, “I have never had such an experience in my life. The tree was far from the stage and in the middle was the media. Due to the branches we couldn’t see what was happening on the tree. We could not announce what was happening on the tree from the stage as there could have been a stampede.”

The chief minister added that what he saw still haunts him and he still has difficulty sleeping at nights. “I can’t get over it,” Kejriwal added.

“I made a mistake. I should have called off the rally,” said Kejriwal. “When we were on stage, because of the bushes surrounding the tree, what was going on wasn’t clearly visible. Some AAP volunteers came to us and said that something was wrong.

“We couldn’t announce that there was something wrong because then, the people would run to the tree. It would have caused great chaos,” Kejriwal said.

“I honestly believe that even the AAP volunteers didn’t think that he (Gajendra Singh) would jump,” said Kejriwal.

When pressed on the issue however, the Delhi CM said he had admitted his guilt, so it was time to move on.

He also blamed the media for its portrayal of the issue. “Stop beating the issue to death. This is only being done to increase TRP,” he said. “ANI will not investigate this. The police will,” he said.

Why debate this (whether AAP leaders did enough to prevent...get out of the TRP aspect of news) :Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to ANI

— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2015

“There is no need to indulge in blame game and it is not right to blame the police as well. I think nobody present there would have thought that a person would commit suicide. Sootron ke hawaale se jo khabre aa rahi hain, yeh sab natak hai. Iski zaroort nahin hai.”

Highlighting the raging farmers’ issue, Kejriwal said that it is important to focus on the farmers issue rather than blaming each other on the suicide issue. “What has been happening for the last few days is not right. Arrest whoever is responsible. But address the problem of why farmers are committing suicide. The naatak which has been going on is not right,” said Kejriwal.

The Delhi CM said that the focus should be on the farmers and the reason behind the suicides and the media should stop making more of what the issue already is.

— ANI (@ANI_news) April 24, 2015

He also said the person responsible for Gajendra Singh’s death should be hanged.