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This is an archive article published on February 26, 2024
Will scrap Agnipath recruitment scheme, revert to old set-up: Congress
The Congress demanded that appointment should be given to the nearly two lakh youths who had cleared the recruitment process but were not given joining letters after the scheme was launched in 2022.
3 min read
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to President Droupadi Murmu on Monday, highlighting the "gross injustice" done to the youngsters seeking regular employment in the armed forces due to the Agnipath scheme. PTISlamming the Central government over the Agnipath military recruitment scheme, the Congress Monday alleged that “gross injustice” was meted out to the youth of the nation and asserted that it will revert to the old recruitment system if voted to power at the Centre and the party will also mention it in its manifesto.
The Congress demanded that appointment should be given to the nearly two lakh youths who had cleared the recruitment process but were not given joining letters after the scheme was launched in 2022.
Party president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to President Droupadi Murmu Monday highlighting the “gross injustice” done to the youths seeking regular employment in the armed forces because of the Agnipath scheme and urged her to ensure justice for them.
The future of nearly two lakh young men and women is uncertain because the regular recruitment process in the armed forces has been scrapped, Kharge stated in his letter to the President, who is the supreme commander of the armed forces.
देशभक्ति और बहादुरी से सराबोर सैन्य अभ्यर्थियों के लिए न्याय की लड़ाई में हम उनके साथ हैं।
कड़ी तपस्या के बाद सशस्त्र बलों में चयनित होकर भी नियुक्त न किए गए 2 लाख युवाओं और अग्निवीर योजना के संदर्भ में माननीय राष्ट्रपति महोदया को लिखा कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष श्री @kharge जी का पत्र। pic.twitter.com/Ve09hffKLS
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2024
“There are many well-known issues with the Agnipath scheme. Former Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane has written that the Army was ‘taken by surprise’ by Agnipath and that ‘for the Navy and Air Force, it came like a bolt from the blue’,” Kharge stated in his letter to Murmu.
Tagging Kharge’s letter, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote on X: “We are with the military candidates, who are full of patriotism and bravery, in the fight for justice.”
Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said with the spirit of patriotism and service in mind, lakhs of youngsters across the country work hard day and night. “The BJP government crushed the dreams of lakhs of promising youth of the country by bringing Agniveer Yojana,” she said in a post on X.
Addressing a press meet at the AICC headquarters, Congress general secretary Sachin Pilot said that in the long term, this scheme will not benefit anybody except saving some money for the government of India. “We, in the Congress party, feel that we should go back to the old recruitment system,” Pilot said. If some changes are to be introduced to modernise the armed forces, that is very much possible in the current setup, but to eradicate the old system is not right, Pilot said.
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