‘I think protest, raising voice is justified in a democracy but violence and vandalism will not be tolerated, the National Security Advisor added
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Tuesday said that there will be no roll back of Agnipath, the new short-term recruitment scheme for the armed forces.
In an exclusive interview with ANI on Tuesday, NSA Doval said that Agniveers, the recruits of the special Agnipath military scheme will never constitute the whole army.
“Agniveers will never constitute the whole army. Those Agniveers who become regulars eventually will undergo intensive training, acquire experience over a period of time,” Doval said.
NSA also termed the Agnipath scheme as not a “standalone” scheme and said that it was the Central government’s priority to make India secure and strong.
“There’s a need to look at it in a perspective. Agnipath isn’t a standalone scheme in itself. When PM Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, one of his prime priorities was how to make India secure and strong. That required many avenues, many steps – multitude of them,” NSA Ajit Doval said.
On anti-Agnipath protests
Speaking in the protests against Agnipath in multiple states, Doval said that raising voice is permitted in a democracy but not vandalism and violence.
“I think that the protests, raising your voice is justified and is permitted in a democracy. But this vandalism, this violence is not permitted and will not be tolerated at all,” Doval, in an exclusive interview told ANI.
Protests by some army aspirants erupted against the scheme in various states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Assam.
Irate mobs vandalised public property, burnt railway coaches and stopped train movements in various states. Images showed smoke billowing out of burning trains, some youth ransacking the buses and
even burning the private vehicles in some cases.
Coaching centres, which train youth for the defence services, came under probe agencies’ scanner for instigating violence through WhatsApp groups.
“FIRs have been lodged, accused have been identified, after due probe we can say who were the forces behind it. An investigation must be done and thoroughly so,” Doval said while referring to the protests
and the involvement of some coaching centres in violence over the Agnipath scheme.
‘Conflict entrepreneurs with vested interest behind protests’
Doval said that “conflict entrepreneurs” with vested interests are behind the protests over the scheme.
The National Security Advisor told ANI that while there are people who are truly concerned and “their fear of unknown” is being gradually addressed and there is another group which does “not care for the country or security of the nation” and resorts to violence and damage to public property.
“I will say there are two kinds of opposition. There are one group of people who are truly concerned, who have served the country. They only have the fear of the unknown. It is anxiety before any big change.
People are now understanding gradually that it has been a long-term due. They are now finding it a good move,” he said.
“But, there is another group. They do not care for the country or the security of the nation. They are conflict entrepreneurs. They want a conflict in society. These are the people who will go for
stone-throwing, demonstrations, burning trains. They are with a vested interest. Whenever they have an opportunity they think they can mislead the people,” he added.
NSA Doval said the youth who are serious about joining the Armed Forces do not get misguided.
“A true Agniveer will not be influenced or misguided. They will prepare rather than do protests. The people who are doing all this, I do not think they are willing to join the Armed Forces or have a psychic mental set.” he emphasised.
He said raising voice is justified but vandalism will not be tolerated.
“I think protest, raising voice is justified in a democracy. Violence and vandalism will not be tolerated. Reforms are required in various forms such as Police. Lessons should be learnt from the circumstances. Many FIRs have been lodged. People behind these will be identified,” said Doval.
The Agnipath scheme
The Centre on 14 June launched the Agnipath scheme. As part of the initiative, 46,000 Agniveers will be recruited for a four-year duration in 2022.
Up to 25 percent of the Agvineers will be retained while the rest will let go with a severance package at the end of their service.
With inputs from ANI
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.