Farmer’s suicide: Ashutosh bursts into tears, requests other parties to stop politicising issue

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh broke down on live television on Friday as he spoke to the daughter of Gajendra Singh, the farmer from Rajasthan who hanged himself during an AAP rally at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Wednesday.

"I am your guilty, Megha. I could not prevent the death of your father," he said crying. "I hope you are able to forgive me for your father's death," the AAP leader said.

"I didn't enter politics for this kind of blame game. I want to request Rajnath Singh, Ajay Maken and Sambit Patra to stop politicising the death of a farmer," said Ashutosh.

The journalist-turned-politician was under severe criticism from the other leaders for his initial comments in which he remarked that Arvind Kejriwal could not have possibly climbed the tree to save the farmer, and that in future if such incidents were to repeat itself, he would ask ‘Arvind to climb the trees and save the person.’

Responding to the incident, Gajendra Singh’s brother Devendra Singh said that his late brother could have been saved if Ashutosh had taken two minutes off the rally. The farmer’s father also responded to the chain of apologies and emotional outbursts, saying that apologies won’t bring his son back.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal apologised for having made a speech instead of cancelling the event, but also questioned the way the things were being handled by the media and other parties, by politicising a suicide.