Owaisi demands immediate rollback of 'Agnipath' scheme

Hyderabad, June 19:  AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday appealed to the Central government to immediately rollback defence services recruitment scheme 'Agnipath'.

Reacting to the government's statement ruling out a rollback, the Hyderabad MP made a fresh appeal.

"I once again appeal to the government to stop this devious manner of working, listen to the youth of this country, immediately rollback this cruel scheme of contractual recruitment and make up the shortfall in men and equipment for our armed forces," Owaisi tweeted.

He also slammed the Narendra Modi government over the issue. "BJP leaders say we will hire demobilised contract soldiers as chowkidars for their offices. Is this the dignity Modi's party assigns to soldiers and soldiering, which is a profession of honour?," he asked. "It is regrettable that we have a ruling party like this in the country," he said.

"We have seen the destruction caused to the Indian economy and society by reckless steps like demonetisation and lockdown taken without any thought and planning," he wrote and wanted to know if the Prime Minister now wants to do the same to national security.

Earlier, Owaisi, posting a video of Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy, said: "Modi's minister says Agniveers will be trained as drivers, dhobis etc Serving in army is a prestigious profession with no parallel. These men are willing to kill or get killed for India. If they wanted to be drivers, etc why would they spend 4 years in army?"

"It's clear that BJP sees Agniveers as nothing but chowkidaars on hire," he said and alleged that the Prime Minister is playing with India's security and destroying the future of youth.