Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday stepped up his attack on prime minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government over the Agnipath scheme. Extending his support to the protesters, he said ‘true patriotism lies in strengthening the army’ and hit out at the prime minister for ‘weakening the army with a new deception’.
Taking a dig at the Centre over the ‘Agnipath’ scheme, he also said those who talked about ‘one rank, one pension’ were bringing in ‘no rank, no pension’.
Addressing Congress parliamentarians and legislators from across the country who converged at the party headquarters here to express solidarity with him after he was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate, Gandhi said his questioning was an “unimportant” matter and the most important issue in the country is of jobs.
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“The spine of the country — small and medium industries, has been broken by the Modi government. I say to all those who train in the morning to get into Army, Navy and Air force that the prime minister has broken the spine of the country and this country will not be able to give jobs to its youth,” the former Congress chief said.
The government introduced the scheme on June 14 under which recruits – ‘Agniveers’ – will serve a four-year tour of duty after which 75 percent will be retired. The scheme triggered massive protests with several incidents of violence being reported from over 10 states. Protestors set trains on fire, torched vehicles and damaged both private and public properties.
On Sunday top military officials from all three branches – Army, Navy, and Air Force – stressed that the scheme will not be rolled back and offered clarifications and assurances for potential recruits.
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