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BJP hopeful of blunting Opposition’s Agniveer narrative ahead of key state polls
Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh go to polls in 2027, all of whom contribute significantly to military recruitment.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hopeful that the Centre’s decision to extend the tenure of Agniveers by two more years will help counter criticism of the contentious scheme in states heading for assembly elections next year, particularly those with a high number of armed forces recruits, party leaders said.
Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which will go to the polls early next year, and Himachal Pradesh, where elections are due later in 2027, are among the states that contribute significantly to military recruitment.
The first batch of Agniveers, inducted under the Agnipath scheme in 2022, is nearing the end of its initial four-year tenure by the end of this year.
Centre-Opposition narrative play
“The Opposition managed to make Agnipath a key political issue in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. In several states such as Haryana, Rajasthan and UP, the Opposition’s narrative against the scheme and the fear they stoked about changes being made to the Constitution had huge traction and the BJP’s margins and seats came down…” said a senior party functionary, who did not wish to be named.
The BJP, which won 303 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, saw its tally fall to 240 in 2024, below the majority mark of 272.
In Haryana, the party lost five of the 10 seats it had won in 2019, while it failed to win any seat in Punjab. Its tally also fell in Rajasthan, from 24 to 14, and in Uttar Pradesh, from 62 to 33. To be sure, Agnipath was only one of the factors in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the BJP successfully reversed its poor showing just months later, winning the Haryana assembly elections.
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Opposition parties, including the Congress, had called for scrapping Agnipath scheme and restoring the earlier recruitment system, which offered longer tenures, medical benefits and pensions.
“There are belts in Punjab, Uttarakhand and UP where the population predominantly consists of armed forces personnel, both serving and retired. A job in the fauj (armed forces) is considered a stable and honourable profession and families take pride in their sons wearing the uniform. Therefore, the narrative against the scheme is critical,” the leader quoted above said.
In Uttarakhand, where districts such as Pauri Garhwal and Chamoli have a significant number of serving and retired armed forces personnel, the BJP hopes the announcement will help address concerns over the scheme.
“We have approximately 120,000 ex-servicemen in Uttarakhand. This announcement will surely help blunt the anger against the government and the anti-incumbency against the state government. Recruitment in government jobs and employment avenues is a pressing issue in the state,” a state leader said.
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