The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Singh, on Sunday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to convert the Armed Forces into security guard training centres through its Agnipath scheme.
Addressing a press conference, Singh, who was joined by the aspirants who had cleared all the stages of recruitment exams of paramilitary forces including ITBP, CRPF, Assam rifles in 2018 said that in 2018, around 60000 vacancies were announced and 55912 were selected and 4000 who, despite clearing all the stages (physical, written and medical) were left to lead a life of despair.
“They protested against this decision for a year at Jantar Mantar. They held a strike at Samvidhan Chowk in Nagpur for 72 days. And 19 days ago, they marched to Delhi from Nagpur on foot and have reached here today. Many are on their way to reach Delhi. What they are asking is just because they have cleared the exam in 2018. They are waiting for their appointment letter and they have been fooled multiple times,” Singh alleged.
“When Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai was asked in the Parliament about the vacancies in paramilitary forces, he said that 1,11,000 posts are vacant. If that’s the case, then why have they been left to lead a life of despair? I am asking the Prime Minister to respond to this,” said Singh.
Speaking about the Centre government’s Agniveer scheme, Singh said that the Prime Minister has converted the Armed Forces into a Private Security training centre for his industrialist friends.
“The youth who will leave the Armed Forces after four years of service will be jobless. They won’t have a choice but to either live a life of destitute or commit suicide. At most, he will work as a security guard in a private company with a meager salary of ? 8000-10000 because with the qualification of metric or intermediate pass, they cannot become IAS, IPS, doctor or engineer,” said Singh.
“Their claim of providing ? 10-12 lakh as Seva Nidhi is a sham.
“I have studied the scheme thoroughly. It says that not 75 per cent but all the agniveers will be retired after four years and they have to reapply to be a part of 25 per cent who will be made permanent.
“They will be inducted as per the available vacancies and they are not bound to hire 25 per cent. The upper limit is 25 per cent and the lower limit can be as low as two per cent,” said Singh.
“The scheme also says that if they lose their lives during the action, it will not be considered that they made supreme sacrifice for the nation.
“Their families will not get any pension as well,” said Singh adding that BJP is not getting tired of enlisting the benefits but the reality is that if someone becomes an MP or MLA for even a single day, they get a lifetime pension.
