Arvind says sorry, Ashutosh weeps

Kejriwal admitted that he should not have continued with his speech against the Land Ordinance after the incident but pointed out that he was to originally speak for an hour but spoke only for just 10-15 minutes. “I think that was my mistake. Probably I should not have spoken. If that has hurt anyone’s sentiments, I would like to apologise,” said Kejriwal in his first comments on the Wednesday incident.

“I am guilty, blame me, but please focus on the real issue of the farmers and desist from politicking,” he added. Gajendra Singh, a farmer from Rajasthan, on Wednesday hanged himself from a tree at the venue of the AAP meeting at Jantar Mantar. AAP activists rushed him to a hospital where he was declared dead. He further insisted that the “real truth” behind the episode would be known only after an inquiry.

He added that everyone was appealing from the AAP stage to help Gajendra Singh who was on the tree. “I don’t think anybody present would have thought that a person would commit suicide. When he was brought down, he was still alive,” Kejriwal said. AAP workers rushed him to hospital, he said, adding that no blame game was needed. It’s “not right to blame police as well”, he said. Delhi Police have accused AAP activists of preventing them from going to the rescue of the victim. The AAP had initially denied this, and instead accused the police of not acting promptly.

In a related development, AAP leader Ashutosh on Friday broke down on a TV channel programme after the suicide incident. A visibly emotional Ashutosh, sobbed during a live show on a TV channel, when he was made to interact with the daughter of deceased Gajendra Singh. He also pleaded with folded hands to stop the “politicisation” of the sensitive issue. “I didn’t enter politics for this kind of blame game. I want to request Rajnath Singh, Ajay Maken and Sonia Gandhi to stop politicising the death of a farmer,” said Ashutosh. Earlier on Friday AAP leader Sanjay Singh handed over a cheque of Rs 10 lakh as a token of support and solidarity and said no amount can compensate the void created by Gajendra Singh’s sad demise.