Agnipath military recruitment scheme: Will bring back old recruitment system if voted to power says Kharge

New Delhi: Stepping up its attack on the Union government over the “Agnipath” military recruitment scheme, the Congress alleged on Monday that “gross injustice” was done to youngsters and asserted that it would revert to the old recruitment system if voted to power at the Centre.

The Opposition party also demanded that appointment be given to the about two lakh youngsters who had cleared the recruitment process but were not given joining letters as the “Agnipath” scheme was launched in 2022.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to President Droupadi Murmu on Monday, highlighting the “gross injustice” done to the youngsters seeking regular employment in the armed forces due to the “Agnipath” scheme, and urged her to ensure justice for them. The future of nearly two lakh young men and women has become uncertain due to the scrapping of the regular recruitment process in the armed forces, Kharge said in his letter to the President, who is the supreme commander of the armed forces.

“There are many well-known issues with the Agnipath scheme. Former Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane has written that the Army was ‘taken by surprise’ by Agnipath and that ‘for the Navy and Air Force, it came like a bolt from the blue’,” he said in his letter to Murmu. “Furthermore, the scheme is discriminatory among our jawans by creating parallel cadres of soldiers who are expected to work on similar tasks, but with very different emoluments, benefits and prospects. The majority of Agniveers will be released into an uncertain job market after four years of service, which some have argued could affect social stability,” Kharge said.