 "Senior Cong leader files complaint against Vijayvargiya on Agniveer remark")
Senior Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha member V Hanumanth Rao on Tuesday filed a complaint against BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya for his remark to employ Agniveers for security at the party office in Begum Bazar Police Station in Hyderabad.
He also termed Vijayvargiya's remark insulting to the soldiers and army.
The BJP leader had said that he would give priority to Agnipath recruits for security jobs at his BJP office.
"I will give preference to an Agniveer to hire him as security in BJP office, even you can. One of my friends hired 35-year-old retired army personnel as his security guard stating that he has faith in him. He is a soldier so I am not scared. This means a soldier is the name of self-confidence," Vijayvargiya had said.
Talking to ANI, Rao slammed the Centre's Agnipath scheme and said, "For four years, they will give a job and after that, they will give Rs 11 lakhs while leaving. After four years what they will do how will they manage their families. They have to do labour or agriculture work. Previously they were 15 to 20 years term that was now cut down to four years."
"Violence has been witnessed while opposing the scheme. At this point, the Chief of Army says we will not go back on Agnipath. This is not right," he said.
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"On the other side BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said after they complete four years, we will keep the Agniveers as security at BJP office. This is very insulting to the soldiers and Army, who protect people and give security to the country. So I have given a complaint in Begum Bazar police station against Kailash Vijayvargiya BJP leader," he added.
The Congress leader further said he had requested to take immediate action and arrest Vijayvargiya stating that he had insulted the Indian soldiers.
"Previously when Nupur Sharma Made remarks on Prophet Muhammad you were silent, today in Afghanistan, Kabul they attacked Gurudwara, 50 people died, the whole world is reacting on this issue. Other side BJP General Secretary is giving such a statement is an insult so that is the reason I gave a complaint and requested to take immediate action and arrest him. Otherwise, this will continue. He had insulted the Indian soldiers they should get arrested," he added.
Meanwhile, clarifying his remarks, Vijayvargiya had said that all he meant was the excellence of these soldiers will be utilised in whichever field they go to after completing their tenure.
"Agniveers who complete their service under the Agnipath scheme will definitely be trained and committed to their duties. This excellence will be utilised in the fields they choose after completing service in the army. This was what I clearly meant," he tweeted.
He further said that the nation is well aware of the conspiracies of this toolkit gang against the national heroes-religionists.
"People associated with the toolkit gang are trying to insult the workers by distorting my statement. This would be an insult to the 'karmveers' of the country. The nation is well aware of the conspiracies of this toolkit gang against the 'rashtraveeron-dharmaveeron'," he added.
The newly launched Agnipath scheme has snowballed into a controversy with protests taking place in several states.
A total of 46,000 Agniveers will be recruited this year but a top military officer said it will go up to 1.25 lakhs in near future. The entry age for all new recruits in the Armed Forces has been fixed as 17.5 to 21 years of age. However, following protests, the Central government announced an increase in the upper age limit for the recruitment of Agniveers from 21 years to 23 years for the recruitment cycle of 2022 as it has not been possible to undertake the recruitment during the last two years.
Agnipath recruitment scheme will begin on June 24 and the online examination would be held on July 24.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)