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SKM to protest against Agnipath on Friday: Rakesh Tikait
In a tweet, the BKU spokesperson said the decision was taken at an SKM coordination meeting in Karnal on Monday.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) will hold a nationwide stir against the Agnipath military recruitment scheme on Friday, thus joining the ongoing protests against the policy, farmer leader and Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait announced on Monday.
“Samyukt Kisan Morcha to hold demonstrations against the Agnipath scheme at district/tehsil headquarters on June 24. The decision was taken at an SKM coordination meeting in Karnal. We request youngsters, citizen organisations and parties to join us. Now, BKU’s planned June 30 protest will take place on June 24 itself,” Tikait posted on Twitter, tweeting in Hindi.
BKU, headed by Tikait’s elder brother Naresh, is a member of the SKM - a collective of more than 40 farmer organisations - which spearheaded protests against the three, now-repealed contentious central farm laws. The laws, brought by the Modi government in September 2020, were withdrawn in November last year; the movement against the legislations began in November 2020, and was called off only after the repeal.
Meanwhile, Monday’s announcement by Tikait came four days after he objected to the Agnipath policy, which was rolled out on June 14. The Union government, a day ago, said the plan will not be taken back, despite widespread opposition to it; however, the Centre had refused to roll back the farm laws as well despite holding around a dozen meetings with the SKM to resolve the issue.
Also Read | Countrywide stir needed to stall Agnipath scheme, says farmer leader Rakesh Tikait
Also, the farmer leader's tweet came on a day when a pan-India bandh against Agnipath is being observed. Under the radical project, cadets, who will be known as ‘Agniveers’, will join the armed forces for a duration of four years. After this, 25 per cent will be retained for regular service, while the remaining will be relieved. The 75 per cent released ‘Agniveers’ will get incentives such as 10 per cent reservation each for posts under the Union home and defence ministries, and can also be recruited for corporate jobs.
