Centre forcing country’s youth to walk on ‘firepath’ of unemployment: Congress

 New Delhi: Congress leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Salman Khurshid, K Suresh, V Narayanasamy and others, are holding a ‘Satyagraha’ at Jantar Mantar to protest against the Enforcement Directorate summons to Rahul Gandhi and Agnipath scheme.

The Congress party held the Centre responsible for the ‘deteriorating’ condition of the youth in the country.

As the protests continue, the Twitter handle of the Congress party on behalf of Rahul Gandhi wrote, “People who make false promises of providing employment to two crore youth every year, are forcing the youth of the country to walk on the ‘firepath’ of unemployment. The situation is deteriorating all around the country at this time, only and only the Prime Minister is responsible for it.”

Mallikarjun Kharge also lashed out at the Centre over the Agnipath scheme. He tweeted today, “For the first time in 75 years, service chiefs are being fronted to defend a policy decision by the government. Why are the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Defence Minister quiet on the Agnipath scheme?”

Congress General Secretary Ajay Maken said that the Congress will hold Satyagraha at Jantar Mantar on Monday and demand the President withdraw the Agnipath recruitment scheme.

“We’ll sit on Satyagraha at Jantar Mantar today, and in the evening at 5 pm we’ll meet the President and demand that the Agnipath scheme be withdrawn,” said Congress’ Ajay Maken.

According to him, the scheme needs to be discussed with the youth first before implementation. “The scheme should first be discussed with youth and in Parliament, but before that, it should be withdrawn,” he added.

Congress workers will hold “peaceful” protests across the country on Monday against the “anti-youth” Agnipath scheme and the central government’s “vendetta politics” targeting party leader Rahul Gandhi, who is being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.

“We will also inform the President how our MP was harassed and how ED is being misused,” added Ajay Maken.

Congress MP S Jothimani was allegedly beaten up by Delhi Police during the protest against the ED probe on Rahul Gandhi in National Herald Case.

“The police came inside AICC by breaking the gate. Rahul Gandhi has been questioned for more than 30 hours and undue pressure is being put on us. Pressure is being created through ED and police. In the last years, 5422 cases are going on in ED, out of which 5310 cases are filed in the 8 years of the Modi government,” he added.

Rahul Gandhi appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday for the fourth round of questioning in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald case.Regarding his questioning by ED on Monday, as per official sources, the Congress leader, a Z+ category protectee of the Central Reserve Police Force after the Union government withdrew the Gandhi family’s Special Protection Group cover in 2019, was confronted with several documents collated by the ED as evidence recovered so far in the case to get his version.

After the Agnipath scheme, which allows Indian youths to serve in the regular cadre of the Armed Forces for a period of four years, was announced on June 14, protests erupted in various states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Assam. As the agitation intensified in some places, protestors went on the rampage setting trains on fire, torching vehicles and damaging both private and public properties.

A total of 46,000 Agniveers will be recruited this year but a top military officer said it will go up to 1.25 lakhs in near future. The entry age for all new recruits in the Armed Forces has been fixed as 17.5 to 21 years of age.

However, following protests, the Central government announced an increase in the upper age limit for the recruitment of Agniveers from 21 years to 23 years for the recruitment cycle of 2022 as it has not been possible to undertake the recruitment during the last two years.