Youth across the country are agitating and creating nuisance. On the other hand, in the midst of these movements, the notification of the Agneepath scheme of recruitment in the army has started. The government and the army have made the specifics of this scheme more clear. The government has made it clear that if this scheme has come, it will remain and now all the recruitment of the army will be done under this scheme only. That is, people forget the regular scheme of recruitment up to 17 years. Senior officers of the three armies held a press conference and said that now there will be no regular recruitment. The three army officers also said that those who agitated violently against the Agneepath plan will not get a place in the army. They will have to give an affidavit that they were not involved in the movement. This will be verified by the police report. It has also been said that those who had participated in the recruitment rally before Corona, were selected in it and those who were medically tested, will also not get any relief. He too will have to join the competition to become Agniveer again.
The biggest thing was said by the former Army Chief and Central Government Minister General VK Singh. Showing a sense of contempt towards the agitating youth, he said that ‘this is a voluntary scheme, which has to come. Who is calling you’. He meant to say that, the one who does not like this plan, he should do other work, there is no compulsion on him to join the army. There are two major contradictions in this statement, one of which is being pointed out by all. That is, General VK Singh himself, despite having served for 62 years and being a four-star general, had taken the army and the government to the court to increase the job for one year and is still taking army pension and MP’s salary. How can they favor a four-year job without pension? The second big paradox is that many experts defending the Agneepath plan are calling it a step towards compulsory military service or compulsory military training, while General VK Singh seems to be saying that this is not the case.
However, the big question is, why is the government not taking seriously or not caring about the demonstrations and violence against this plan? Why in spite of such fierce protests, the government bluntly said that the plan would continue and on the contrary threatened the protesters that they would not get jobs in the army? Is the government believing that such violent movements do not last long and their effect is also not much? Or is the government in the belief that no matter how much movement there is, it is not going to cause political damage, so there is no need to care?
The government’s assessment in this matter is correct. It is difficult to keep any violent movement going for a long time and avoid being directionless. Remember the biggest and violent movement before this. The movement was against the implementation of the Mandal Commission’s recommendations. Then the whole country was burning. Youth were committing self-immolation on the streets of the capital Delhi. But what was the end result? Mandal commission report came into force. There were also violent agitations for separate Jharkhand and Uttarakhand states, but a new state was formed only when the violence ended and political initiative took place. Therefore, the youth who are protesting and agitating violently also have to understand that the path of non-violent resistance is more suitable than violence.
Enthused by the ongoing agitation against the Agneepath scheme, some opposition leaders and social media warriors feel that the way the government withdrew the agricultural laws due to the farmers’ agitation, the Agneepath scheme will also be back. It may be returned, but what will be the benefit to the youth and secondly what difference will it make to the health of the government? Agricultural laws were withdrawn but what has been the benefit to the farmers? Has the government given a legal guarantee of the Minimum Support Price (MSP)? It has been more than seven months since the agitation ended and till now a committee has not been formed to consider it.
That is, the government has not kept its promise, so what did the farmers do to the government? What is the damage done to the political capital of the government? Did the farmers unite and the society stand with them and defeat the BJP in the elections? Elections were held in five states immediately after the farmers’ agitation, out of which the BJP won four states with great pride. In a state where it lost, BJP had nothing even before.
Think, in spite of such a huge movement, if the BJP did not suffer political losses, then why would it care about any movement? He knows that the citizens of the country cannot get out of the vicious circle of political discourse he has put in. The issue of Hindu-Muslim, temple-mosque, hijab and halal meat, Ali and Bajrang Bali, crematoriums and graveyards are more important than their personal interests for a large section. In fact, every citizen of the country has many identities. They were farmers when the farmers were agitating, but they were divided into castes and communities as soon as they returned home after finishing the agitation. Similarly, the protesters opposing the Agneepath scheme are a group of youth, but after the movement their identities will change. They will be divided into caste and religion. Then their agenda will be another. BJP knows that whatever the youth or farmers may say at times, in the end they will be guided by Hindu identity.
Therefore, nothing much will be gained from this plan or opposition to that plan except for a short time in the headlines. For a decisive victory, the fabricated patterns of religious identity have to be demolished. Nothing will happen by burning train engines and bogies, the demon of communal hatred that has been created in the heart and mind will have to be burnt. If the youth opposing the Agneepath scheme are thinking that burning the train will frighten the government, then they are in a misunderstanding because the government wants to make them violent. Today they will burn the train, only then tomorrow they will be able to burn someone’s house, shop! Therefore, be it farmers or youth, they have to end the religious discourse that increases division, only then the politics of the country will be normalized and only then will any issue be considered in a logical and objective manner.
