Agnipath govt’s ‘ultimate anti-national act’: Congress

NEW DELHI: Dubbing the Agnipath scheme as the ultimate “anti-national” act that will destroy India’s armed forces and kill the country’s youth, Congress on Sunday intensified its protests against the recruitment programme, urging the youth to continue their protests in a non-violent manner and ensure, “in a democratic way, “the fall of the Modi government.
Congress parliamentarians and leaders took to the streets in the national capital and staged a sit-in at Jantar Mantar. While Rahul Gandhi kept away on account of his mother Sonia Gandhi’s hospitalisation, leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, AICC general secretary organisation K C Venugopal, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat, communications general secretary Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid, Sachin Pilot, Deepender Hooda and Ajay Maken, among others, participated in the ‘satyagraha’.
Rahul tweeted: “Those who did not hoist the tricolour for 52 years cannot be expected to respect the country’s jawans. The youth dream of serving in the armed forces not to serve as guards at the BJP headquarters, but to protect the country’s sovereignty. The PM’s silence is an endorsement of this disrespect.”
Addressing the sit-in, Priyanka urged the youth to distinguish between “real” and “fake” nationalists, pointing out that the Modi government was not protecting the interests of the youth, poor, women and the troubled, but batting only for its capitalist friends. She said, “There is no patriot bigger than the country’s youth. The country and Congress is with you in this struggle.”