The Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of doing ‘petty politics’ even on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas. Kharge also claimed that the PM ‘saying that his government implemented the Agnipath scheme at the behest of the Army, that is ‘blatant lie’ and ‘an unforgivable insult to our valiant Armed Forces’.
The Opposition party's attack came after PM today described the Agnipath scheme as an example of necessary reforms undertaken by the Army and accused the opposition of playing politics over the recruitment process aimed at keeping the average age in the armed forces low. In his address on Kargil Vijay Diwas to mark the 25th anniversary of victory in Kargil war, Modi said that some people were doing politics even on a sensitive issue related to national security. He also rejected claims that the Agnipath scheme was launched to save pension money.
According to Kharge, Former Army Chief General (Retd) MM Naravane has said on record that 75 per cent of recruits were to be taken for permanency in the Agnipath scheme and the rest were to be let go after four years. But the Modi government did the opposite and forcibly implemented this scheme for all three-armed forces. He asserted that soldiers join the army with the spirit of patriotism, not for earning a livelihood.
Congress president also claimed that Agniveers do not get any pension, no gratuity, no pension for the family and no education allowance for the children's education. He said many retired officers had strongly criticized the scheme, saying it was endangering national security and the aspirations of the rural youth and demanded that it be completely scrapped. The Congress President further said that the Congress Party will continue to demand that the Agnipath scheme should be stopped. While, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also accused the prime minister of ‘lying even on Kargil Vijay Diwas’.