New Delhi:
Reports about the government’s plan to tweak the rules of Agnipath, the short-service Commission plan in the armed forces, have drawn a sharp reaction from the Congress. In a social media post today, the party said the government “will have to stop the Agnipath scheme also”.
“If they don’t do this, we will stop it. There is news that changes will be made in the Agnipath scheme due to pressure from the opposition. It is possible that after four years of service, the number of Agniveers getting permanent jobs will increase from 25% to 50%. But… This is not enough,” read a post from the Congress on X, formerly Twitter.
“The Agniveer scheme is against the army. This is a betrayal of the youth of the country. It is a tampering with national security. Right now we have been forced to reconsider, but we will not rest until we finish it,” the party had added.
The reports it referred to was one that said the government may retain 50 per cent, instead of 25 per cent Agniveers after their four-year commission is over, quoting un-named sources. There could also be a hike in payments, added the report, which came ahead of the assembly election in Haryana, one of the states that sends a chunk of recruits to the armed forces.
The Congress has been opposing the Agnipath Scheme since the beginning, contending that the radical overhaul will a problem for the recruits, who will face an uncertain future after their four years are up.
It became a key election issue for the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. The coming assembly election in Haryana has set off a resurgence of the debate, with multiple face-offs between various ministers and Opposition leaders.
The last ones were between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Leader of the Opposition, Congress’s Rahul Gandhi in parliament during the budget session at the end of July.
During the debate on the budget, Mr Gandhi had claimed that the Agnipath scheme has robbed the country’s soldiers and their families of financial security and respect, pointing to the absence of pension. He alleged that the scheme exposes the government’s “anti-youth and anti-farmer” leanings.
Mr Singh had accused him of propagating misconceptions. Mr Gandhi, he added, was misleading the public regarding Agnipath.