The family of Gajendra Singh, the man who on Wednesday committed suicide at an AAP rally in Delhi, claims that he took the extreme step due to the “unexpected loss” of his crops.
41-year-old Gajendra Singh, a resident of Dausa district and father of three, took his life by hanging himself from a tree, while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was addressing a farmers rally on the issue of Land Acquisition Ordinance. Gopal Singh, the victim’s uncle, said, “Gajendra was under stress and disturbed because unseasonal rain had destroyed his crop. He earned his livelihood through farming.”
The Dausa district administration, however, has countered the family’s claim, saying, loss of crop “does not appear to be the reason” behind it.
Loss to crops does not appear to be a reason of suicide. His family’s financial condition is fine and they have farm houses and his uncle is the local village sarpanch.
- Kailash Sharma, Addl Dist Collector, Dausa.
Kailash further claimed that “not a single farm” in Baswa Tehsil, where Gajendra Singh’s village falls, is entitled for compensation.
During the survey conducted by the district administration to assess loss to crops, it was found that the damage in all the farms in that Tehsil was below 33 per cent therefore no farmer was eligible for compensation.
- Kailash Sharma, Addl Dist Collector, Dausa.
Also, Sub-Divisional Officer Bandikui, Dayanand Sharma, has claimed that “Gajendra never approached the authority to demand any compensation.”
According to Bandikui SHO Laxmikant Sharma, “Gajendra Singh had 8 bighas of land and had cultivated wheat.”
Unmindful of the appeals from AAP leaders and workers to climb down from a tree at Jantar Mantar, the rally venue, Gajendra put his towel around his neck and hanged himself. Dausa district is about 60 kms from Jaipur.
Even as they paint a picture, almost cynically, of a farmer “not badly” hit by crop loss, the local administration fails to explain why Gajendra Singh found the need to travel out of Dausa and commit suicide at a farmer protest in distant Delhi.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)