Farmer kills himself steps from India’s Parliament
|
Version 0 of 1. NEW DELHI — Farmer Gajendra Singh Rajput had clashed with his father in recent days after some of the family’s crops — mustard seed, sunflower and wheat — failed in unseasonable rain. Rajput claimed his father ejected him from the family farm. Rajput, a father of three from Rajasthan state, then came to a farmers’ rally in India’s capital on Wednesday, climbed a tree and hanged himself — in full view of thousands of horrified onlookers, as well as a large contingent of Delhi police, who witnesses said seemed to be frozen in place. Joginder Deshwar, 30, said that when he saw Rajput tying a noose, he began frantically scaling the neem tree and was the first to reach him. “I kept looking down and telling police, ‘Help me, help me, please help me,’ ” Deshwar said. “I caught a hold of his body and brought him down, but by the time we reached the ground, he was already choking.” Rajan Bhagat, a spokesman for the Delhi police, declined to comment early Thursday about accusations that police had done nothing to stop the suicide. The public tragedy, which unfolded on television, focused nationwide attention on the plight of India’s farmers, who have suffered mightily from recent unseasonable rain and hailstorms, which damaged more than 24 million acres of crops over 14 states. The government has increased compensation for affected farmers in recent weeks, but advocates say that both national and state-level help has been slow in coming and that more is needed. “It’s sheer desperation. There is no relief and untold damage,” said Sachin Pilot, a senior leader of the opposition Congress party from Rajasthan. “It reflects the lack of hope in Indian agriculture right now.” Farmers suicides in India are common, according to a December government report, with deaths attributed to crop losses because of bad weather and low prices, as well as to unpaid debts. Pilot said Rajput was the 42nd farmer from his home state to commit suicide in the past two months. “For some months, everybody has been talking about farmers’ issues, but there’s no attention to the real damage on the ground,” said Dharmendra Malik, a spokesman for the Bharatiya Kisan Union, a national farmers union that held a rally in Delhi last month. The farmers are so heavily invested in their land, he said, that “when a farmer faces crop damage, he has nowhere to turn.” Climate experts say India is increasingly at risk for such extreme weather events because of climate change, including last year’s erratic monsoon. This year, there is more bad news for farmers: The monsoon season is expected to be dry. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences to Rajput’s family, saying the country was “deeply shattered and disappointed.” “At no point must the hardworking farmer think he is alone,” Modi said. Nagender Sharma, a spokesman for the party in charge of the Delhi government, said that more than 10,000 attended Wednesday’s rally to protest a controversial land bill that would diminish some farmers’ rights. The rally had been going on for more than an hour when Rajput began climbing the tree, witnesses said. Once aloft, Rajput appeared to be shouting slogans and taking part in the protest, but his suicidal intent soon became clear from the white cotton towel he fashioned into a noose. Sharma said that volunteers rushed to take him down but that he was barely conscious by the time they managed to do so. Sharma’s Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man Party, had organized the rally, held just yards from Parliament. The party and its leader, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, were later criticized for carrying on with their speeches even after Rajput’s hanging. Rajput was pronounced dead at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi, authorities said. He had left a crumpled suicide note in which he wondered how he could get home and closed with a popular national slogan from the 1960s and 1970s, “Hail soldier! Hail farmer!” Read more: Prime Minister Modi says India must lead on climate change What Delhi’s air pollution says about India and climate change |