Congress turns to armed forces to expose BJP's ‘fake nationalism’

The Narendra Modi government’s new disability pension rules for armed forces personnel, the Aginpath scheme for the recruitment of soldiers and alleged anomalies in the One-Rank-One-Pension policy are identified by the Congress as “grave injustices” meted out to the armed forces.

“We will take up these issues of our faujis and fight for justice. These issues will also figure in our manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” chairman of the Congress’s Ex-Servicemen Department Col (Retired) Rohit Chaudhry told The Federal.

Jai Jawan

The nationwide campaign called “Jai Jawan” launched earlier by the party in Bihar as an offshoot of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is part of that larger mission.

The Jai Jawan campaign highlights the plight of 1.5 lakh young men and women aspirants who were accepted into the army, navy and air force in a regular recruitment drive between 2019 and 2022 after passing the rigorous selection process but were denied recruitment as the Modi government suddenly imposed the Agnipath scheme, reads a party communique.

The twin demands of the party are that the previous recruitment system for the armed forces be reinstated and the 1.5 lakh aspirants who cleared the recruitment test be absorbed in the forces.

Three phases

To push for its demands the party has lined up a three-phase campaign -- Jay Jawan: Anyay Ke Virudh Nyay Ka Yudh.

The first-phase of the programme includes a mass contact programme aimed at reaching out to 30 lakh defence families (current and former) by February 28.

“Nyaya Patra (along with form and leaflet) shall be distributed by the workers of the Congress to defence families and request the youth preparing for army recruitment to join and support the movement,” said the party communique.

Fake nationalism

The second phase will be a Satyagraha programme from March 5 to 10 to reach out to as many youths and their families as possible, gather information and engage them by making them aware of the ongoing campaign.

Dharnas will be organised in all the blocks and cities as part of the Satyagraha. Finally, a ‘padyatra’ up to 50 km will be carried out in all the districts from March 17 to 20.

The campaign will expose the “fake nationalism” of the Modi government, claimed Chaudhry.

Agniveers discriminated

‘The youth selected under Agnipath scheme titled Agniveers get less salary than the regular soldiers (their salary is just around Rs 21 thousand per month as against Rs 45 thousand for regular soldiers).

Even after martyrdom, the Agniveers do not get the status of a martyr. Because of this their families are denied the support meant for a regular soldier who attains martyrdom.

“We call this Shahadat mein bhed bhaav (discrimination even in martyrdom),” Chaudhry stated.

Other issues

Agniveers are not entitled to medical or other facilities, gratuity, pension, canteen facilities, ex-servicemen status, scholarship to children and many other facilities available for regular army personnel, said chief of the Congress’s Ex-Servicemen department.

The Congress will also provide legal help to the 1.5 lakh aspirants to wage a legal battle against the “injustice” done to them.

“Agnipath is just one aspect of our fight against the BJP’s betrayal of the armed forces,” he said, listing the OPOP and disability pension rules as two other examples of BJP’s alleged indifference towards the armed forces personnel.

Pension goes

The notification on the Entitlement Rules for Casualty Pension and Disability Compensation Awards to Armed Forces Personnel issued on September 21 last year was illegal.

The new rules have abolished the pension element and instead made it “impairment relief” and brought it under the tax net, the retired colonel said.

He said the party is mobilising the support of armed forces veterans and various ex-servicemen organisations to fight the “injustice”.

Discriminatory OROP

The National Ex-servicemen Coordination Committee has termed the OROP scheme approved by the Modi government on December 23, 2022, discriminatory. It claimed the scheme did not benefit personnel below officer ranks (PBORs).

The Congress has now decided to rake up the issue, taking up cudgels for the PBORs.

These apart, the party has also launched a compassionate outreach drive wherein Rahul Gandhi writes a condolence message to the family members of a martyr.

Outreach drive

“A member from our ex-servicemen team physically visits the bereaved family to deliver the message as a respect to the martyr. This outreach drive was launched in November last,” Chaudhry said.

“We have taken another initiative of deploying one fauji in all the villages that have good numbers of retired and serving armed forces personnel. The person will stay connected with fauji families and convey to the party their problems and grievances if any,” he added.

This is part of the Congress plan for national level to village level integration with around 1.8 crore armed forces families including that of paramilitary forces, he added.