Muristek
Vibha Sharma
New Delhi, June 17
As protests against Centre's new recruitment plan "Agnipath" raged across multiple states, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, the ruling BJP condemned the violence, and blamed Opposition parties for inciting the youth for arson and vandalism.
Senior leaders and party spokespersons lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the decision to increase the upper age limit in the Agnipath scheme proved the sensitivity and willingness of the government to be flexible.
While the BJP's ideological fountainhead, RSS, appreciated the "commendable initiative", saying it will provide youth employment opportunities, ally JD-U demanded a re-think/re-visit on Agnipath, once again exposing fault-lines within the alliance ahead of Presidential polls.
Accusing the Opposition of "conspiring against the government and misleading young people", senior Sangh leader Indresh Kumar said the scheme would provide jobs and opportunities to the youth. "Unfortunately, the Opposition parties are conspiring to defame the government. They are misleading the people by misrepresenting," he alleged.
However, as protests forced the government to announce the two-year relaxation for this year, a section within the party admitted to "gaps in communication" to convey the scheme and address "simmering anger among the youth over the issue of joblessness/unemployment".
Notably, this is not the first time the Narendra Modi government has been challenged on its "reformative" schemes related to economic issues, with land acquisition law, GST implementation, demonetisation and the farm laws being the other examples.
Apart from relaxation in upper age limit, the Centre and BJP-ruled states, including UP and Haryana, have made several assurances and announced supporting plans for prospective Agniveers, including promises of post-retirement jobs and educational courses to augment employability.
An unimpressed JD-U, however, demanded a "re-think" over Agnipath.
Underlining his party's position, JD-U national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh said "there is rising discontent in Bihar and some other states (against Agnipath). As violent incidents are being reported from several places, the Centre should immediately take cognisance and revisit the scheme. Students and youth have to be convinced that the scheme would not have any adverse impact".
The two NDA allies have been at loggerheads over various issues, including caste census in Bihar. Even on the issue related to the Presidential elections, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has not made any official commitment so far. The party has been quoted as saying that it will wait for discussions to "start first and see who is the candidate and if there is one or more candidates".