Rajnath Singh critical of AAP over farmer's suicide

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh was today critical of AAP over the incident of a farmer committing suicide at its rally yesterday.

Making a statement in Lok Sabha, he said the crowd gathered for AAP rally there "clapped" and "raised slogans" as the farmer, Gajendra Singh, climbed up the tree and ended his life.

"Crowd was clapping. Police requested them to stop raising slogans. Generally, such people (who try to end lives) are engaged in talks to turn their mind but here the crowd kept clapping and raising slogans," he said, responding to an impromptu debate on the matter in Lok Sabha.

To questions over the role of police, the Home Minister suggested that the police took prompt steps to tackle the situation by calling the police control room and ordering help from the fire brigade to bring him down from the tree.

To emphasise his point against AAP, Singh referred to the comments made by an MP of that party that had he been there he would have cancelled the rally immediately.

Many members were sharply critical of the police personnel present there for not doing anything as the farmer ended his life.

Many, including Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, sought a judicial probe to fix accountability, saying police is in a dock over the matter and it cannot probe itself.

Such a probe was necessary as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the police, which reports to the MHA, have offered conflicting versions of the event.

Rajeev Satav (Cong) sought action against Commissioner of Delhi Police to send out a strong message to the force.

Singh said the probe has been handed over to the Crime Branch after a criminal case under Sections 306, 186 and 34 of IPC was registered.