"Rahul Gandhi trying to misguide public": Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Congress' claims about Agniveer Yojana

By Tanya Chugh
New Delhi [India], October 2 : Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him and his party of misleading the public and spreading false information about the Agniveer Yojana.
Speaking to ANI, Defence Minister Singh said, "Rahul Gandhi is trying to misguide the public. There has been a need for young blood in the Armed Forces for quite a long time. In countries like Britain, US, Israel, Russia, and China engagement with armed forces is done for small durations and keeping this in mind, after a lot of discussions, this scheme was introduced."
He also accused Congress of spreading false information that Agniveer soldiers won't receive any pay for their service and clarified that Agniveers receive Rs 12 lakh under a one-time Seva Nidhi package, along with an ex-gratia amount of Rs 44 lakh.
"Congress party has been spreading false information that the Agniveer soldiers won't get any pay for their service but the truth is that after their engagement, the Agniveers receive Rs 12 lakh under one-time Seva Nidhi package and also an ex-gratia amount of Rs 44 lakh," he told ANI.
Singh also said that reservations in government jobs have been made for those Agniveers who are not retained after completing the mandatory service period.
"Out of all the Agniveers, 25 per cent will serve in the army on a regular basis based on their merit and for the left ones, provision has been made for government jobs in many states like UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Odisha and Goa," Singh told ANI.
The Defence Minister added that the families of Agniveers will receive Rs 1.5 crore if they are killed during service.
"Congress party has spread another lie that the family of deceased agniveers do not get anything in return but let me make it clear that if any Agniveer is killed during his service, the family receives an amount of Rs 1.5 crore. Also the government has signed MoU with different banks where Agniveers are provided with insurance of Rs 50 lakh to 1 crore for which they do not have to pay any premium," Defence Minister said.
Ranjath Singh took a jibe at the Congress saying that even Goebbels, from Hitler's era, would have laughed if he had heard Congress party's lies.
Singh expressed confidence in the BJP's ability to form the government in Haryana for the third consecutive term, stating that there is no doubt about it and adding that the BJP will win more seats than it did previously.
"There is no doubt. You must have seen the response of public during the rallies and people of Haryana have made up their minds and BJP will form the government. BJP party will win more seats than it won previously and government will be formed with clear majority," he said.
Haryana will go to the polls on October 5 to elect its 90-member state legislative assembly, with counting set to take place on October 8. In the 2019 elections, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party, securing 40 seats, while Congress won 30 seats. The BJP is confident of forming the government in the state for third term.