Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended the Agnipath Scheme as one of the crucial reforms that is aimed to address the long pending concern for the average age of the Indian focus being above the global average. Speaking at Dras, Ladakh on the occasion of the 25th Kargil Vijay Diwas, PM Modi criticized the past governments of lacking the willpower to address this concern.

He also accused the Opposition of politicizing the Agnipath Scheme and misleading the youth. “Purpose of Agnipath is to keep forces young and continuously battle-ready”, the Prime Minister asserted. “The truth is that the Agnipath scheme will increase the strength of the country and the country will also get capable youth. Announcements have been made to give priority to Agniveers in the private sector and paramilitary forces as well”, he added.

Rebutting the claims of the Opposition that the main reason behind Agnipath Scheme is to save on pension, the Prime Minister reminded that pension burden of the soldiers being recruited today will come up after 30 years, therefore, this cannot be the reason behind the scheme. “We have respected this decision taken by the armed forces because for us the security of the country is more important than politics”, he added.

Hitting back at the Prime Minister’s remarks on the scheme, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge accused the PM of doing “petty politics” even on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas. “No Prime Minister has ever done this before,” Kharge said in a post on X.

He also claimed that the Prime Minister “saying that his government implemented the Agnipath scheme at the behest of the Army, this is a blatant lie and an unforgivable insult to our valiant Armed Forces.”

Kharge added: “Former Army Chief (Retd.) General MM Naravane has said on record that 75% of recruits were to be taken for permanency in the ‘Agnipath Scheme’ and 25% of people were to be let go after 4 years. But the Modi Govt did the opposite, and forcibly implemented this scheme for all three Armed Forces.”

“Are we creating professional soldiers, only by 6 months of training? Soldiers join the Army out of patriotism, not to earn a living,” he said, adding that Agniveers do not get any pension, no gratuity, no family pension, no liberalized family pension and no education allowance for their children.

Maintaining that there is a lot of anger and strong opposition among the youth of the country regarding the Scheme, Kharge stated that the Congress will continue to demand the scrapping of the Agnipath Scheme.