Senior Congress leader Manish Tiwari is seen in a rebel attitude these days. He refused to sign the opposition parties’ protest letter over the “Agneepath scheme”. In fact, Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday (July 11, 2022) made a presentation about the Agneepath scheme in a meeting with the opposition parties. At the same time, MPs of some opposition parties raised their objection to the scheme and demanded its withdrawal.
The opposition parties also submitted a memorandum to the Union Minister regarding the withdrawal of the scheme, which was signed by all the MPs, apart from Congress leader Manish Tewari. Although Tiwari verbally supported the opposition to the Agneepath plan, he refused to sign the letter. He said that he was in favor of modernization of the army but against the implementation of Agneepath.
The letter was signed by six opposition MPs including Congress’s Shaktisinh Gohil, Trinamool Congress’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Saugata Roy, Nationalist Congress Party’s Supriya Sule and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s AD Singh. According to sources, Shakti Singh Gohil demanded the withdrawal of the plan citing its criticism by experts and excellent soldiers.
He said this would affect the morale of the forces. He said that it should be started as a pilot project and trained people should be recruited in the army. The Defense Committee, headed by Rajnath Singh, has 20 members, including 13 members from the Lok Sabha and about 7 members from the Rajya Sabha.
It is worth noting that last month there were violent protests in many northern states including UP, Bihar regarding the Agneepath scheme. This protest, which lasted for a week, was supported by many opposition parties and also demanded the withdrawal of the plan. At the same time, earlier this week, the Indian Air Force said that about 7.5 lakh applications have been received under this scheme.