BSP, SP criticise Centre over Agnipath scheme, says introduced in haste

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday slammed the Centre over 'Agnipath' claiming the scheme was introduced in a haste and that the opposition to the BJP "from all sides" showed the saffron party had lost its base.

Mayawati said in a Hindi tweet, "The new 'Agnipath' scheme has taken the country by surprise and is being implemented in haste like 'notebandi' (demonetisation) and 'taalaabandi' (lockdown), which affected crores of youths and their families, and there is anger among them. The government should avoid having an arrogant attitude."

The "unrestrained statements" by the BJP leaders and the "narrow politics" of spreading confusion among the people and creating difficulties for the army should immediately end, she said in another tweet.

Akhilesh Yadav also took to Twitter to condemn the scheme. "The youths are feeling disappointed and there is also a feeling of fear and insecurity towards their future. This will prove to be fatal for the country's development. The responsibility of the government is to improve the present and shape up the country's future. The opposition to the BJP from all sides shows it has lost its support base," he wrote in Hindi.

The Centre last Tuesday unveiled the Agnipath scheme to recruit youngsters aged between 17-and-a-half and 21 years in the army, navy and air force, largely on a four-year contractual basis. It later relaxed the upper age limit for this year's recruitment to 23.