A meeting organised by the Left parties to express solidarity with the youth who were on agitation path against Agnipath, has demanded that the Central government repeal the scheme at once. The government should take the concerns of the youth into account and also the operational effectiveness of our armed forces are kept intact, the meeting felt.
CPI leader in Rajya Sabha Binoy Viswam, addressing the gathering on Tuesday, expressed the view that the people and youth need to be “hundred times more cautious” as the scheme would ‘bring in temporary soldiers’ to our defence forces. The scheme, to save pension money, severely compromised the quality and efficiency of our professional armed forces. It affected their ethos, discipline and fighting spirit, which could also in turn potentially lead to the militarization of civil society, he said.
The army aspirants would be forced to take a compulsory retirement post four years of their service, leaving them unemployed without work at a tender age. “With no employment, they would turn to anti-social activities or become Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) goondas,” he alleged.
The RSS ideology has roots in fascism and racism of Hitler and Mussolini. Hindutva was nothing but the Indian version of fascism. The Agnipath scheme fuels that fascism and suppress the minorities, students, peasants and other sections of the society that oppose the RSS ideology, he said.
CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna, CPI-M state secretary V. Srinivasa Rao and others spoke.
