congress-seeks-full-rollback-of-agnipath-scheme

The Congress today demanded complete rollback of the Agnipath scheme saying it was neither in the interest of the country nor the defence forces. It said, the scheme was not acceptable even in any amended form also. 

 

Addressing a press conference here today, Congress spokesperson and Rohtak MP, Deepinder Singh Hooda, while referring to certain reports that the government of India was considering making some amends in the scheme, he reiterated his party’s stand that it wants its complete withdrawal and restoration of the old system of recruitment prior to 2022.

 

The Congress spokesperson quoted certain reports in public domain that the government was considering to increase the service tenure of the Agniveers from four to seven years besides increasing the retention from 25 to 60-70 percent. He said, these changes were not acceptable to the Congress party and it will continue to oppose the Agnipath scheme in totality.

 

He observed that the scheme was neither in the interest of the defence services, nor the country, nor the country’s security and nor the youth of the country.

 

He said, the youth were feeling demoralised and there was complete loss of interest among youth to join the defence services after the introduction of the Agnipath scheme. 

 

Hooda demanded that not only should the central government rollback the scheme, it must also disclose the circumstances, reasons and at whose behest the scheme was launched. He pointed out, it was not asked for by the defence services either.

 

He said the scheme had been rejected by the people of the country as was obvious from the BJP’s poor performance in the states from where maximum recruitments take place, like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The people in these states had punished the BJP for Agnipath scheme also, he added.