Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed the ‘Agnipath’ recruitment scheme will adversely impact the morale of armed forces as he continued his attack on the Centre on a range of issues – from note ban to unemployment to inflation – during his Bharat Jodo Yatra which entered its 68th day.
Speaking at a public meeting in Hingoli district of central Maharashtra, organised as part of the Congress’s mass outreach programme, he hit out at the Narendra Modi government, claiming policies like ‘Agnipath’, note ban and Goods and Service Tax (GST) were formulated to instill fear among the people of the country.
Mr Gandhi alleged the Prime Minister wants ‘Made in China’ products as this will benefit “two-three billionaires” in the country.
“What is Narendra Modi ji doing? They (the BJP) are trying to spread fear, violence and hatred. Be it note ban, Agnipath, GST…all their policies only scare people. The one who gets scared, there is hatred in his heart which leads to division in the society. And then they say they are patriots,” he said.
Mr Gandhi criticised what he dubbed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) brand of “patriotism”.
“Not waiving farmers’ loans is patriotism, implementing the wrong GST is patriotism, spreading hatred in the country is patriotism, (bringing the contentious) farms laws is patriotism, unemployment is patriotism, and inflation is patriotism. This is not India’s patriotism. This is RSS patriotism,” said the Lok Sabha MP from Kerala.
The former Congress president maintained the 2016 note ban exercise and “faulty” implementation of the GST in 2017 were weapons to attack small shop owners and small and medium businesses.
“These policies were enacted to instill fear because they want to create hate. They want to divide people and spread violence and divert attention from the real issues,” he alleged.
Mr Gandhi said unemployment is the only real issue plaguing the country, but the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not speak about it.
Speaking in context of the Agnipath scheme, announced in June this year, the Congress leader said he had an interaction with an ex-servicemen who told him a jawan is fully ready for his role in the armed forces only after after seven to eight years of training and not four years.
“If you are sending a jawan on war front with a training of six months, then you are doing an injustice because when he goes to war after six months of training, and on the other hand, with Chinese soldiers getting training of seven, eight, ten years, then you know the results,” he said.
Mr Gandhi said the Agnipath recruitment scheme will hurt the morale of the Indian armed forces.
Under Agnipath, youths will be inducted into the armed forces for a four-year tenure, while 25 per cent of them will be subsequently inducted for regular service.
Waiving a mobile phone in his hand, Gandhi asked those present at the rally where it had been manufactured.
He then proceeded to himself give the answer, “It comes from China. Who benefits from it? Those people who sell Chinese goods in India. Who is benefitted when goods come from China? It is China…and who else is benefitted? The one who also sells Chinese products in India. Modi ji wants Made in China (goods) because that will benefit two to three billionaires.” Targeting the Centre over issues faced by farmers, the Congress MP said despite cultivators paying premium to insurance companies, they do not get compensation in case of crop loss due to floods and unseasonal rains.
