It was February 2019, when Rahul Gandhi, opposing Rafale Deal tried to incite Airforce Pilots by offering them enhanced compensation in case of death by air crashes. I had called out his crass offer that time. Unfortunately, it seems that Rahul Gandhi is bent on demoralising our brave armed forces, having tried to unsuccessfully incite them on other ranks vs officers, caste, OROP, now he has been trying to incite Agniveers vs permanent troops .

Agniveer or Agnipath, as it is named, is a scheme that is a long-awaited reform, first mooted by Arun Nehru in 1989, post the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) debacle and precarious national finances. Post Kargil War, the idea was mooted again. Finally, PM Narendra Modi bit the bullet and announced the Agniveer Scheme.

Rahul Gandhi, true to his form, opposed the scheme, with demands to scrap it and return to the old system. Rahul tried to inculcate a sense of being exploited in aspirants via this scheme. But the youth attended recruitment rallies in large numbers, laying to rest his efforts to incite them.

During his election campaign, he termed Agniveer a ploy to cheat the youth, promising to scrap it if voted back to power. How much the Agni veer scheme affected the results still has to  be analysed. In his first speech as the Leader of Opposition (LoP), Rahul Gandhi shocked the nation by uttering lies about Agniveers being given no compensation after being killed in action. The white lie was promptly called out by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the floor of the house and expunged from his speech.

After this, instead of apologising, Rahul Gandhi and his minions have unleashed an extremely distasteful fake narrative. With a picture of Bhagwan Shiva in background, he accused the Raksha Mantri of lying, posting a video of the father of late Agniveer claiming he received no compensation. The usual suspects joined the cacophony and demanded the scrapping of the scheme. Disgruntled veterans came out of the woodwork and started criticising Agniveer.

The Indian army had to issue a clarification. Along with bank statements, about the amount disbursed. Rahul Gandhi, and his minions, instead of feeling ashamed, brazenly started the narrative of this being insurance, not central government payments. Veterans and Congress-supporting handles are now trying to spin benefits as insurance payouts, totally discarding the fact that it is the central government that has created a mechanism for benefits to be paid.

With the media descending into the homes of the two Agniveers and getting proof that compensation of a crore plus has been received by one, while the other would get more, bizarre narratives have started, headed by Rahul Gandhi official X posting that the central government is lying.

Just to settle political scores, Rahul Gandhi has dragged the army into a very unsavoury debate. He has reduced the death of two young men, killed while serving the nation, to just an issue of money.

The lives, personalities, and aspirations of these two Agniveers have been relegated to the background. They are now just two dead men, reduced to bickering about money received by their families. They were bright young men, from poor backgrounds, who competed with lakhs to get selected. No one is discussing them, their dreams, what they were like! Just because they are poor, they have no dignity in death? Because their deaths suit the dynast’s agenda, they are to be reduced to just money received?

Some troubling questions arise – how ethical is it to approach the families, one is a farmer, one daily wage earner -to give fake information, demand pension, government jobs? The families are dealing with the loss of a son and the bulk compensation amount. It is easy to incite them by claiming they are not getting all the benefits. How ethical is it to weaponise their grief for political agenda? Just because they are poor, aren’t they entitled to any privacy?

From 2014 onwards, Rahul and the opposition have been targeting the Armed forces, trying to foment discontent. They tried to divide on caste lines but failed. Tried to divide based on religion, failed. Congress alleged that Modi engineered Pulwama, asked for proof for Balakot strikes and failed! Now Rahul Gandhi is trying to stoke discontent in the army via Agniveers, and will keep on making such bizarre claims.

Rahul, please leave the defence forces alone. Your governments weakened them, and never considered them important. Till Kargil War, which you never owned as a national victory, the bodies of those killed in action were never sent home, only an urn of ashes was sent!

Your government weakened the armed forces by not upgrading. Salaries were poor till the seventh pay commission, leading to manpower shortages in critical fields. OROP was denied. Montek Singh deemed the armed forces superfluous for the nation and advocated making it lean.

Agniveer will not weaken the armed forces, as vested interests are fear-mongering. Narendra Modi government will never weaken the defence of the nation. The scheme will be tweaked, reformed and fine-tuned. But Rahul Gandhi, please leave our Agniveers alone !!!

Image source: OpIndia