The agitations and backlash against the newly introduced Agnipath scheme for military recruitment continue to rage on as many opposition leaders and youth organizations have slammed the central government for its implementation.
Now, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha has announced a nationwide protest on June 24 in support of the protesting students against the newly launched Agnipath recruitment scheme by the Centre. It must be noted that SKM was the lead organization that organized the farmer’s protests.
Though the SKM has called for a nationwide agitation against the Agnipath scheme on June 24, the farmer outfit has said that the demonstrations will remain peaceful. The farmer front has also called the new army recruitment scheme “anti-national, anti-military and anti-farmer.”
“When the central government is bent upon destroying the spirit of the slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kisan, it is the duty of the farmer’s movement to stand shoulder to shoulder with the jawans in this struggle,” Samyukta Kisan Morcha said in a statement.
The decision regarding holding a nationwide protest against the Agnipath scheme was taken during a meeting of the SKM leaders on Monday. The farmer body further said that the scheme is not fit for the country, and is “playing with national security.”
SKM said in its statement, “It is not only playing with the national security and dreams of unemployed youth but also with the farmer families of the country. The jawan of this country is a uniformed farmer. Most of the soldiers are from farmer families.”
“Army job is tied to the honour and economic strength of lakhs of farmer families. It is a matter of shame for the country that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who started his victory campaign by rallying ex-servicemen with the promise of “One Rank One Pension”, has now launched this scheme of “No Rank No Pension”,” the statement said.
This comes just a day after several organizations tried to call a Bharat Bandh to protest against the Agnipath scheme on Monday, which lead to heavy security checks and massive traffic jams across the Delhi NCR region.
The government has further said that they have no plans to roll back the Agnipath scheme.
(With PTI inputs)
READ | Agnipath scheme: Rs 1 crore for Agniveers in case of martyrdom, Rs 44 lakh in case of disability during service
