Agnipath: Congress stages sit-in, promises legal aid to protestors

A Congress delegation that had gone to district jail to meet those arrested in connection with the agitation, was denied permission for the same by the jail administration, says party’s Kashi unit president Raghvendra Chaube.

Congress members staged a sit-in, in protest against Agnipath, the Centre’s newly announced recruitment policy, at the Town Hall ground in Varanasi on Monday.

Congress members staging a sit in against Agnipath - recruitment policy at Townhall ground in Maidagini area of Varanasi (ht photo)

Party’s Kashi unit president Raghvendra Chaube who led the sit in from 10 am to 1pm, said the party will provide legal aid to those youths who were arrested for protesting against the government’s recruitment policy.

He said a Congress delegation that had gone to district jail to meet those arrested in connection with the agitation, was denied permission for the same by the jail administration.

He said jail administration denied permission citing Covid-19 protocol.

“The youths, preparing to join the army, work very hard. They get up at 4 am and runs for several kilometers daily. These youths have dream to join the army to serve the nation and the Congress will fight for their rights,” he said. A heavy police force was deployed at the protest site.

Seva Dal state president Pramod Pandey, Durga Prasad Gupta, Fasahat Hussain Babu, Rajesh Gupta, Pramod Verma, Arvind Kumar, Manoj Dwivedi, Sajid Ansari, Manoj Verma, Vipin Pal, Kishan Yadav, Ramesh Sharma, Ayush Tiwari, Mohammad Ujer, Anil Patel, Gorakh Yadav, Bablu Vind, Raj Jaiswal, Ramji Gupta, Vikas Pandey, Mohd Irfan, Mumtaz, and others participated in the sit in.