KOLKATA: Raising question on central government’s request to provide jobs to Agniveers West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee denounces the move saying ‘why should we?’
The central government in a letter to state governments has urged to provide jobs to Agniveers once they complete their tenure of four years.
Banerjee, during a public speech in Bengal, said that she has received a letter from the centre. However, she added, “Centre (BJP) wants us to give jobs to BJP workers. Why should we?. Youth of the state will be given the first priority.”
However, Banerjee’s comments associating Agniveers with one particular political party drew strong reactions.
Talking to The New Indian, Dilip Ghosh, MP and BJP national vice president said, “After retirement, Indian army or paramilitaries get jobs everywhere, but this state government won’t provide them jobs because they are against the Indian army and the paramilitaries.”
“Moreover, one important aspect is that there is no job in West Bengal. Here 1.5 lakh police officials get a salary of rupees eight thousand only. What future do they have? She can hardly think of anything other than politics,” Ghosh added.
Meanwhile, defending her party supremo TMC Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen put the onus on the central government.
“According to Agnipath, 25 per cent of the Agniveers will be retained. Where will the rest of the 75 per cent go? Now to save themselves, the centre is telling them that the state government will take the responsibility. Why will the state government take the responsibility? Does the state’s present responsibility toward the unemployed any less? What about the promise made by the Modi government on providing jobs to crores of Indians?” wonders Sen.
“Central government has corporatized the defence sector up to 74 per cent. They fail to address unemployment for which they have directed for Agniveer. Agnipath is also an RSS agenda,” Sen alleged. “All these impositions are paving way for their defeat in 2024,” the MP prophesized.
The uproar against the central government’s Agnipath Scheme stirred the entire nation escalated into a security scare and caused damage to public property worth crores of rupees.
The government’s effort to tag the scheme as a “transformative” approach which will see the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and the Air Force only for four years failed to break the ice with the protestors.
The opposition said that the scheme was neither debated in the parliament nor in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence the committee members stated prior to its direct induction on June 15.