SHILLONG:
The Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee, on June 27, held a “satyagraha” against the Centre’s Agnipath scheme and demanded its immediate scrapping.
Organised in association with the state Mahila Congress Committee in Shillong, the Congress said that it firmly stands with the youth of the country and “we promise to protect their rights and interest by fighting to get the scheme withdrawn”.
“The central government must scrap the Agnipath Policy because it will jeopardise national security,” one of the leaders in the Satyagraha said.
The six months of training as per the scheme is insufficient to make the youth battle-ready and deploying them as frontline personnel without proper training is just not acceptable, the party said.
It is puzzling that the government has introduced such a disruptive scheme at a time of rising regional tension and the continuing of occupation of Indian territory by the Chinese troops, it added.
Further, Congress alleged that it appears that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies believe that the scheme has been introduced to divert the public’s attention from the government’s failure.