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Agnipath row: Congress to hold ‘Satyagraha’ in solidarity with protesters tomorrow
This comes amid intensified protests across the country by a section of the youth, mostly defence aspirants, demanding the scheme be rolled back.
The Congress will hold a 'satyagraha' on Sunday to express its solidarity with the country’s youth who have taken to the streets to protest against the Centre’s Agnipath scheme for contractual recruitment into the armed forces. Congress MPs, its working committee members and office-bearers of the All India Congress Committee will participate in the demonstration to be held at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
This comes amid intensified protests across the country by a section of the youth, mostly defence aspirants, demanding the scheme be rolled back. A Congress leader told news agency PTI that the Centre’s latest recruitment model has enraged the youth of the country, and they are demonstrating on the streets. “Hence, it becomes our responsibility to stand by them," he added.
Read: Anti-Agnipath stir: What IRCTC rulebook says on train ticket refund
In a statement, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi also assured the agitators of her party’s support against the Agnipath scheme, while urging them to consider a 'non-violent' form of protest.
In an open letter she wrote, "I am sad the government ignored your voice and announced a new armed forces recruitment scheme which is completely directionless. Many former army personnel have also questioned the scheme along with you. I appeal to all of you to protest peacefully in a non-violent manner. Indian National Congress is with you," she wrote as protests against 'Agnipath' spread to nearly a dozen states so far”.
Meanwhile, former Union minister P Chidambaram pointed to concessions being made by the Centre in a bid to end the ongoing nationwide stir and said this proved the policy was ill-thought and poorly conceived. “The piecemeal concessions to the Agnipath scheme announced by the government prove our point that the scheme was ill-thought and poorly conceived,” the Congress MP wrote on Twitter.
Students associations have called a 24-hour bandh in Bihar - seen as the epicentre of the anti-Agnipath protests that, over the past 72 hours, have seen dozens of trains and railway coaches burnt or vandalised, highways and government property (including public buses, police stations and vehicles) damaged, and roads and train tracks blocked.
At least one death has been reported in the protests - a young man from Secunderabad in Telangana died during protests at the railway station there.
