Congress MP Manish Tewari
Agnipath: The Congress party on Wednesday distanced itself from senior leader and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari's stand favouring the Modi government's Agnipath scheme. The grand old party said that Tewari's views are entirely personal and not of the party.
Congress has been vehemently protesting against the new military recruitment scheme which was launched earlier this month. The party is demanding from the government to rollback the scheme and described it as 'anti-national security and anti-youth.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter, "Manish Tewari, INC MP, has written an article on Agnipath. While @INCIndia is the only democratic party, it must be said his views are entirely his own & not of the party, which firmly believes Agnipath is anti-national security & anti-youth, bulldozed through without discussion."
Responding to Ramesh on Twitter, Tewari said the tagline of the article does say the views are personal.
"I wish @Jairam_Ramesh ji would have read it right till the very end," the Lok Sabha MP said.
Tewari had favoured the new Agnipath scheme saying it is a much-needed reform in the right direction while noting that the armed forces should not be an employment guarantee programme.
Massive protests erupted in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and other states after the new military recruitment scheme was launched.
The Agnipath scheme provides for the recruitment of youths in the age bracket of 17-and-half to 21 years for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years. Later, the government extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment in 2022 and announced quotas in different departments for ex-servicemen.
READ MORE: BJP seeks NIA action against Congress' Chhattisgarh MLA for instigating youth against Agnipath
