Agnipath: Congress to hold statewide protest on June 27

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, June 25

Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Hooda today said the Congress would continue to oppose the Agnipath scheme as it was toying with the security interest of the country and the future of the Army and youths.

Demanding that the Centre should withdraw the scheme, he said Congress would hold non-violent protests across the state on June 27 from 10 am to 1 pm.

“I will lead the dharna in Rohtak, while state president Udai Bhan will lead the protests in Karnal,” Hooda said.

Hooda, while interacting with media in Rohtak, reiterated that the scheme was neither in the interest of the national security nor the Army and youths.

“If the scheme is implemented, there will be two types of armies in the country, one permanent and the other temporary. It will be very difficult to establish coordination between them,” he said.

Hooda said the Haryana Government was misleading the youths of the state by promising permanent jobs to Agniveers.

“The reality is that Haryana is facing the highest unemployment rate in the whole country due to the policies of the BJP-JJP government. Statistics show that 29,275 ex-servicemen have applied for jobs at various posts so far. Of which, only 543 have been employed. The government has been able to give jobs to only 1.8% ex-servicemen,” Hooda said.

“In such a situation, how will the government give jobs to 75% of Agniveers who come back from the Army after 4 years of service? If this is the case, the government should first give jobs to the Agniveers of the state and send them on deputation in the Army for another years,” he added.

Hooda said small countries such as Israel could not be compared to a country like India.

“Such countries neither have high levels of unemployment rate nor young people want to join the army. Therefore, it has been made mandatory to serve in the Army there. The situation is different in India. A large population of younger generation wants to join the Army to serve the country. They feel pride in wearing a soldier’s uniform. The policy of countries like Israel cannot be implemented in India,” he added.

Youth Cong launches campaign

Chandigarh: Haryana Youth Congress state president Divyanshu Budhiraja on Saturday launched the ‘Save Army, save country’ campaign against the Agnipath scheme.

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