Hyderabad: Telangana’s IT Minister K T Rama Rao sharply criticized the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party over its newly launched army recruitment scheme, Agnipath, which has been causing a stir across the country.
A day after Union Minister for Tourism G Kishan Reddy spoke about the “skills” that an Agniveer will obtain after being trained under the Agnipath scheme, another Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Indore said that he would prefer an Agniveer to be his security guard.
K T Rama Rao, on his official Twitter account, lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying, “And you blame the youth that they don’t understand you Modi ji?”
On Sunday, Indore’s BJP National General Secretary and former Mayor Kailash Vijayvargiya held a press conference and said that he would always prefer to have an Agniveer as a security guard as people have faith in the army men.
“People associated with the toolkit are trying to insult the workers by distorting my statement. This would be an insult to the workers of the country. The nation is well aware of the conspiracies of this toolkit gang against the national heroes-religionists,” he added.
His remark was picked up and flashed everywhere on the internet as well as on several TV news channels, following which the senior BJP leader was forced to clarify his earlier comment by tweeting on his official Twitter page. He said that his statement was clearly “distorted” by the media.
“Agniveer will definitely be trained and committed to duty, his excellence will be utilized in whatever field he will go after completing his service in the army. That is clearly what I meant,” he tweeted.
Earlier on the same day, the Union Minister for Tourism G Kishan Reddy said, “Agniveers will be trained in skills such as drivers, electricians, washermen, and barbers. These skills will be helpful in different profiles.”
Even though the Central Government has announced benefits such as a 10% reservation will be allotted to the outgoing Agniveer in the Indian Coast Guard and defence civilian posts, and all the 16 Defence Public Sector Undertakings, Defence Ministry officials, protests have not slowed down.
The Agnipath move was simultaneous to the Prime Minister’s announcement of recruiting 10 lakh people over the next 18 months.
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