Recruit youths who cleared Army exams, don’t make soldiers serve officials: AAP’s Sanjay Singh in RS

AAP leader Sanjay Singh urged the government to issue joining letters to 1.3 lakh candidates who cleared armed forces recruitment tests between 2019 and 2022. He also criticised the Agnipath scheme and demanded an end to the "orderly system" involving soldiers serving officers

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Friday demanded in the Rajya Sabha that the government recruit young men who have cleared the examinations for enrolment in the armed forces, and called for an end to the practice of soldiers being made to serve senior officials.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Singh said between 2019 and 2022, approximately 1.23 lakh young men cleared physical and medical examinations for recruitment in the Thal Sena (Army), while around 7,000 cleared tests for the Air Force. However, these candidates are yet to receive their joining letters.

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“The Indian Army is the pride of the country. Being enrolled in the Indian Army is the dream of a young man,” Singh said.

“But with great regret, I would like to tell this government that today those young men are in depression, in despair, in pain, in sorrow that they are waiting for the last letter of enrolment in the Army.” The AAP Rajya Sabha member said youths from Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar and other parts of the country had enrolled with the dream of serving the nation, “whether protecting Mother India in minus 50 degree temperature in Siachen or at 50 degrees in Jaisalmer”.

Singh criticised the Agnipath recruitment scheme, saying, “You brought a scheme like Agni Veer and worked to destroy the faith of the Indian Army and Mother India.” Recounting his recent interaction with Harendra Yadav, a soldier of the Indian Army whom he met in Jaunpur, Singh said the soldier broke down while narrating his grievances.

“His only request was that the soldier of the Indian Army be made to hold a gun in his hand. The soldiers of the Indian Army are made to protect India. But that soldier is made to carry the burden of the authorities. He is made to serve the country,” Singh said.

“The tradition of serving the authorities should be abolished in the Indian Army. The honour of our soldiers should be maintained. Our soldiers are made to protect the country, not to carry the burden of any authority,” he added.

Singh urged the government to issue joining letters to those who have completed all tests and to recruit the young men whose examinations have been completed.