The Maharashtra Government found itself in a peculiar situation on Thursday after a Solapur-based family of a debt-trapped farmer who committed suicide steadfastly refused to cremate his body unless Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis attended his funeral.
However, after Fadnavis’ swift intervention that late Jadhav’s family agreed to accept his body from a local Government hospital where the mortal remains had been taken late on Wednesday night for a post-mortem.
On a day when Swabhiman Shetkari Sanghatana MP and farmer leader Raju Shetti announced that the farmers would intensify their agitation by resorting to a “rail rook” on June 13, a suicide note left by Dhanaji Chandrakant Jadhav (45), a farmer from Jambulzara village in Solapur district of western Maharashtra, urging his family not to hold his funeral till Fadnavis attended the funeral created a major furore in the state.
Jadhav, who had taken loans from both private money lenders and a bank and had also taken part in the ongoing farmers’ agitation, committed suicide by hanging himself to a lemon tree near his home on Wednesday night. After reading a suicide note recovered from Jadhav’s pocket, his family members refused to take late Jadhav’s body from a sub-district hospital where it had been taken for a post-mortem late on Wednesday night. Jadhav’s family members said that they would not hold his funeral till Fadnavis attended the funeral as per late Jadhav’s wishes. Jadhav is survived by his wife, two sons, parents and two brothers. While Jadhav’s first son is studying in the 12th standard, his second son is in 10th class.
The incident sparked a tension in Solapur taluka, where a spontaneous bandh was observed on Thursday.
Taking serious cognisance of the incident, Solapur’s Guardian Minister Vijay Deshmukh met the family of the farmer. He facilitated a conversation with the CM, who consoled the bereaved family members and promised assistance from the Government.