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Congress to hold protest against Agnipath tomorrow
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced that the Congress will hold a dharna across the country on June 27 from 10am to 1pm
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday criticised the central government’s Agnipath scheme and claimed that it plays with the security interest of the country and the future of defence forces and youths.
Hooda announced that the Congress will hold a dharna across the country on June 27 from 10am to 1pm. He would lead the dharna in Rohtak while party’s state president Uday Bhan will lead protests in Karnal.
Addressing the media here, Hooda said this scheme is neither in the interest of the country nor the national security, the army or the youth.
“With this plan, there would be two types of armies in the country -- one will be permanent and another one will be temporary. It will be very difficult to establish coordination between them,” he added.
Hooda said the Haryana government is misleading the youth of the state by promising permanent jobs to Agniveers, while the reality is that Haryana is facing the highest unemployment rate in the entire country due to the policies of the BJP-JJP government.
“Statistics show that 29,275 ex-servicemen have applied for jobs so far, while the government has given jobs to only 543. The government is able to give jobs to only 1.8% ex-servicemen. In such a situation, how will this government give jobs to 75% of Agniveers who come back after four years of service? If this is the case, then the government should first give a solid job to the Agniveers of Haryana and send them on deputation in the army for four years,” he said.
Hooda said small countries like Israel cannot be compared with a huge country like India.
“Such countries neither have high levels of unemployment nor people want to join the army. Therefore, it has been made mandatory to serve in the army there. Whereas the youth of India dream of joining the army and feel proud to wear the uniform. Had the recruitments been completed in the last three years, about 20,000 youths of Haryana would have been in the army today,” he added.
Reacting to the results of civic polls, the Congress leader said the urban voter has completely rejected the BJP-JJP government.
Hooda also raised objection to the proposal of the irrigation department and water resources authority to increase the water rates.
He said the government is going to hit everyone, be it a poor man or farmer due to inflation. “The situation has become such that the government is levying tax even on the living, dying, breathing, sleeping and waking up. Tax and prices are being raised continuously. The Congress will continue to oppose it strongly,” Hooda added.
