PM Modi defends Agnipath scheme, Congress hits back

Amid demands from the opposition and some NDA allies for a review of the Agnipath scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday mounted a strong defence of the military recruitment policy, saying it aimed to rejuvenate the armed forces and keep them continuously fit for war. The Congress, however, stuck to its demand of scrapping the scheme introduced in 2022.
Addressing a gathering in Ladakh's Dras on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas, PM Modi accused the opposition of playing politics on a sensitive issue connected to national security.
"Some people are spreading the misconception that the government has brought this scheme to save pension money. The question of pension for today's recruits will arise after 30 years. Why would the government take a decision on it today? It should have left it to the governments of that time. We have respected this decision taken by the armed forces because we work for 'rashtraneeti', not 'rajneeti'," PM Modi said.
Under the Agnipath scheme, personnel are recruited in the Army, Navy and the Air Force on a short-term contract of four years. Of the total annual recruits, only 25% are allowed to continue for another 15 years under permanent commission.
In fact, an internal report of the BJP has cited anger towards the Agnipath scheme as one of the reasons behind the party's debacle in the Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha polls.
In an indirect dig at the Congress, the Prime Minister said the previous governments never cared about the soldiers and also "lied" about the One Rank One Pension scheme.
"It is our government that implemented One Rank One Pension, gave more than Rs 1.25 lakh crore to ex-servicemen. These are the same people who did not build a war memorial... These are the same people who did not provide adequate bulletproof jackets to our soldiers deployed on the border," he asserted.
Demanding the scrapping of the Agnipath scheme, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said PM Modi's claim that the Agnipath scheme was implemented at the behest of the Army was a "blatant lie" and an "unforgivable insult" to the forces.
Kharge also claimed that former Army Chief General MM Naravane had called the scheme a "bolt out of the blue" for the Navy and Air Force.
"According to news reports, General MM Naravane (retd) in his book, which the Modi government has stalled from being published, has said that the Agnipath scheme was shocking for the Army, and for the Navy and Air Force, it came like a 'bolt out of the blue'," Kharge tweeted.
He also said retired officers had strongly criticised the scheme and said it was endangering national security and aspirations of the rural youth.