NEW DELHI: With youths taking to the streets to protest the Agnipath scheme, the Opposition too ramped up pressure on the government and demanded the withdrawal of the new short-term recruitment policy for the armed forces.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to listen to the voice of the unemployed youth and refrain from taking ‘agnipariksha’ (trial by fire) of their patience by making them walk on ‘Agnipath’. Party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra appealed to Modi to not “crush the dreams of the youth”.
Congress veteran P Chidambaram, flanked by Ajay Maken, Sachin Pilot and Pawan Khera at a press conference, said while retired officers had almost unanimously opposed the scheme, he believed that several serving officers shared the same view. “It appears to us that the scheme makes a mockery of training; inducts into the defence forces an ill-trained and ill-motivated soldier, and discharges a disappointed and unhappy ex-soldier into the society,” he said.
Other opposition parties, including the Left and the SP, too, slammed the government and demanded that the scheme be scrapped. More and more military veterans are taking to social media to express their views. Former Army Chief General (retd) VP Malik said, “Agniveer induction has to be based on the annual number of retirees plus deficiencies if any. This is a small number at unit level. It will be a slow induction process,” he added.
Commenting on Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement that priority would be given to Agniveers in paramilitary and police recruitments, Air-Vice Marshal (retd) Manmohan Bahadur tweeted, “Priority is a deceptive word. Details required in terms of hard numbers and percentage of vacancies earmarked for ex-faujis. Else, politics would come in, and for name’s sake, a few would be laterally placed. So, please institutionalise this decision,” he tweeted.