Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on May 23 said the Election Commission (EC) of India was “egregiously wrong” in directing his party not to ‘politicise’ the Agnipath scheme, asserting that it is the right of an Opposition party to criticise a policy of the government.
The Election Commission on May 22 came down heavily on the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress, asking them to desist from campaigning along caste, community, language, and religious lines.
We will revert to old recruitment system and scrap Agnipath: Congress
The EC also asked the Congress not to politicise defence forces and make potentially divisive statements regarding the socio-economic composition of the armed forces. The Commission was referring to remarks made by top Congress leaders on the Agnipath scheme.
In a post on X, Mr. Chidambaram said the EC is wrong in directing the Congress party not to ‘politicise’ the Agnipath scheme.
“What does ‘politicise’ mean? Does the ECI mean ‘criticise’? Agniveer is a scheme, a product of the policy of the government. It is the right of an Opposition political party to criticise a policy of the government and declare that, if voted to power, the scheme will be scrapped,” the former Union Minister said.
“’Agniveer’ creates two categories of soldiers who fight together and that is wrong. ‘Agniveer’ employs a young man for for four years and throws him out without a job and without a pension, and that is wrong,” the Congress leader said.
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“Agniveer was opposed by the Army, yet the government thrust the scheme upon the Army, and that is wrong. Hence, the Agniveer scheme must be scrapped,” he said.
“ECI was egregiously wrong in giving direction to the Congress party and, as a citizen, it is my right to say that ECI was egregiously wrong,” Mr. Chidambaram said.
