"There cannot be two kinds of soldiers": Congress' Rohit Chaudhry on Agniveer

New Delhi [India], July 4 : Congress leader Rohit Chaudhry slammed the central government's Agniveer scheme saying that there should not be discrimination among army personnel in the country as it is against the country's culture.
"Rahul Gandhi says that there should be no discrimination against the soldiers, army and martyrs of the country. There should not be two kinds of soldiers, two kinds of martyrs, two kinds of tribute given to Agniveer soldiers and regular soldiers. This has neither been our country's culture nor the Congress," Chaudhry said speaking at a press conference at the All India Congress Committee headquarters on Thursday.
Citing the example of Agniveer Ajay Singh who was killed in a landmine blast near the Line of Control in the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, the former Army personnel stressed that the Agniveer recruitment issue concerns the youth recruited as Agniveers and are presently under training and are deployed to secure the country.
"This is not just a matter of martyred Agniveer Ajay Singh who was killed in a landmine blast, but that of 13 other Agniveers who were killed as well...This is a matter of 1.20 Agniveers who are serving in the armed forces, Agniveers undergoing training in 80000 training centres and the security of the country.
Speaking about the objective of the Congress, Chaudhry said that the party has demanded the controversial short-term army recruitment scheme be scrapped, the already-recruited Agniveer personnel be made permanent and the old recruitment process for the armed forces be restored.
"After interacting with countrymen during the Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, understanding the issue and listening to people, the Congress party and our leader Rahul Gandhi we reached a decision that the Agneepath scheme has to be scrapped, Agniveers need to be made regular, the old recruitment process has to be implemented and the 1.5 lakh youth who have been selected should be made permanent. We had stated this in our Nyay Patra and the Congress party is determined to fulfill these promises," the Congress leader who is a former Army personnel said.
Accusing Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh of presenting incomplete information to the country on the Agniveer scheme, Chaudhry said that it is the responsibility of the principal opposition party to point out issues that concern people.
"In Parliament, the Defence Minister presented incomplete information to the country, which created confusion. Rahul Gandhi is our Leader of Opposition, the Congress party is the principal opposition party, it is our responsibility to raise the issues of the people, our defence forces, our soldiers and the discrimination that is being done against our Agniveers and our defence forces. Our task is to raise questions and the government is responsible for answering them," the Congress leader said.
The Congress leader claimed that one of the reasons behind the Bharatiya Janata Party's loss of votes in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls is alleged backlash it received owing to the implementation of the Agniveer scheme.
"One of the reasons behind the decrease in votes of the BJP by 12 to 22 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections is the Agniveer scheme because the country has rejected it. Today the mandate is against them...that is why it is our responsibility that the issues that we raised in the run-up to the elections are raised in the Parliament. We had promised to raise people's voices from the streets to the Parliament," Chaudhry said.