Congress Seeks Assembly Session To Condemn Agnipath

Former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir today demanded that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao convene a special session of the Legislative Assembly to condemn and reject the Agnipath scheme launched by the BJP government at the Centre for recruitment into the armed forces.

Addressing the day-long Satyagraha at the Kamareddy Municipal Office as part of a nationwide protest conducted by the AICC, Shabbir Ali also demanded the immediate withdrawal of the scheme.

Calling Agnipath ill-conceived, Shabbir Ali said that the scheme was aimed at diverting the people's attention from the rising unemployment in the country. He said there used to be direct recruitment of 50,000 to 80,000 personnel in the Indian armed forces every year. However, by using catchy terms like "Agnipath" and "Agniveers", Prime Minister Narendra Modi had confined the hiring to below 50,000. Further, all the recruitments under Agnipath were being done on a contract basis.

Shabbir Ali said that Modi had once again displayed his arrogance and dictatorial attitude by launching the scheme without consulting anyone. He said that the country had witnessed huge chaos when Modi had implemented demonetisation without any planning. Consequently, the entire economy had gotten ruined, he claimed. Similarly, he expressed fear that Agnipath could hurt the morale of the armed forces. He said that the people recruited through Agnipath would spend four years in service under huge mental agony and uncertainty over their futures. While only 25% would get absorbed in the armed forces, the remaining 75% of military-trained youth would remain jobless, he said, and added that it was highly unfortunate that the BJP government was interfering in the recruitment processes of the armed forces which had so far managed them independently.

The leader also condemned the statements made by some ministers and senior BJP leaders wherein they promised jobs of watchmen and such to the forcibly retired "Agniveers" after four years. He said that such statements reflected the cheap mentality of the BJP leaders and their lack of respect for the Indian armed forces.

The former minister then pointed out that KCR was still silent on the issue even if other TRS leaders had opposed the scheme.

"When Modi implemented demonetisation and GST, KCR was in the forefront to support his moves. KCR went to the extent of stopping opposition Congress legislators from speaking against Modi's decision in the Assembly. However, this time, although some TRS leaders have opposed the Agnipath scheme, KCR is yet to react. Why is he afraid of talking against Modi and his ill-conceived scheme?" he asked.

Shabbir Ali also condemned the death of a youth in the police firing during the protest against the Agnipath scheme at the Secunderabad railway station. He alleged that both the TRS and the BJP governments were responsible for preventing the violence during the protest.

Senior leaders including Kamareddy DCC President Kailas Srinivas participated in the Satyagraha protest.