Lucknow: Protesters in India threw stones at police and set fire to train coaches on Friday as demonstrations against a new military recruitment process raged for a second day, police said.
Earlier, angry crowds in India set ablaze an office of BJP. Prime Minister Modi’s government announced an overhaul recruitment for India’s 1.38 million-strong armed forces, looking to bring down the average age of personnel and reduce pension expenditure.
The new system, called “Agnipath”, meaning “path of fire” in Hindi, will bring in men and women between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 for a four-year tenure, with only a quarter retained for longer periods.
But potential recruits, Military veterans, opposition leaders and even some members of Modi’s ruling BJP have raised reservations over the revamped process. In Eastern India’s Bihar state, where protests flared in around a dozen locations, thousands gathered in Nawada district to demonstrate against the new Recruitment System.
Police official Gaurav Mangla said, “They torched a BJP office, torched tyres in three prominent areas of the city, damaged a bus and many private vehicles.” According to officials, Protesters also attacked Railway property across Bihar, settling alight coaches in at least two locations, damaging train tracks and vandalizing a station.
Police said that protests also took place in northern Haryana state and Western Rajasthan – both traditional recruiting areas for the Indian military and in various districts of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. In a letter to India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, a BJP member from Uttar Pradesh Varun Gandhi said that 75 percent of those recruited under the scheme would become unemployed after four years of service.
Rahul Gandhi said in a Tweet, “When India faces threats on two fronts, the uncalled for “Agnipath” scheme reduces the operational effectiveness of our armed forces.” BJP govt must stop compromising the dignity, traditions, valour and discipline of our forces.” Analyst Sushant Singh said, the new army recruitment plan was announced without any discussion in parliament and could have “devastating consequences”.
According to Singh, Military proposal will also have a direct bearing on the Indian society, which has seen a spike in hate speech and attacks on Muslims and other minorities by India’s right-wing Hindu groups since Modi came to power in 2014. He pointed out that “the most violent ethnic cleansing occurred when members of the majority community gained combat experience as soldiers while the minority community was unorganized.” Web Desk
