NEW DELHI (Web Desk) – Political parties have staged protests and parliament has been adjourned a day after a farmer committed suicide during a rally to protest against a land acquisition law in India’s capital, New Delhi.
Police launched an inquiry into the death of the farmer after Interior Minister Rajnath Singh ordered a probe completed “as soon as possible”, according to the Firstpost.com website.
Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday morning, NDTV news channel reported, as the issue snowballed into a major controversy, with political parties indulging in a blame game.
The death of Gajendra Singh Kalyanvat, who purportedly left a suicide note saying that he had recently suffered crop losses, has triggered public outrage.
The farmer, from western Rajasthan state, hanged himself from a tree on Wednesday in front of hundreds of protesters gathered at Jantar Mantar, a popular protest spot near India’s parliament.
After his death, questions have been raised over the reason for his suicide and whether police and rally organisers did enough to save him.
Local media has reported that Kalyanvat came from a “reasonably affluent background” with Indian Express newspaper quoting neighbours as saying that “rumours” of severe crop losses might not be true.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress party held protests in the capital on Thursday against the Aam Aadmi Party which had organised the Wednesday rally where the farmer ended his life.
The opposition and activists have accused the government of diluting the land law that was passed in 2013 to favour industrialists but the government says the changes would make business easier.
Prime Minister Modi said the nation was “deeply shattered and disappointed” over the death.
“At no point must the hardworking farmer think he is alone. We are all together in creating a better tomorrow for the farmers of India,” Modi said on Twitter.
