Government should not play with national security, says Kanhaiya Kumar on Agnipath

Patna Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Sunday said the Centre should not play with national securi

Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Sunday said the Centre should not play with national security and demanded an immediate rollback of the Agnipath scheme. 

He said Congress workers will organise protest marches against the Agnipath scheme in all 243 assembly constituencies in Bihar on Monday. “The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is not serious about addressing the unemployment problem in the country. By bringing in the Agnipath scheme, it has made jobs contractual in defence sector. But the Union government must not play with national security. We demand an immediate rollback of the scheme,” Kumar told reporters. 

The new scheme comes at a time when there has almost been no recruitment in the armed forces for several years, he said. 

“Agnipath scheme is simply a move towards the contractualisation of defence jobs. Agniveers won’t get employment or pension after completing their service duration of four years. Students and job aspirants will definitely protest against such schemes that will thrust the youth of the country into the fire. But Union ministers are trying to sell the scheme like salesmen,” he said. 

Kumar alleged that the Centre does not understand the pain or frustration of jobless youngsters. “Why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi silent on the issue? The government talked about ‘one rank, one pension’, but has come up with a scheme of ‘no rank, no pension’. The scheme is neither in favor of the country nor good for army job aspirants,” he added.