The Samjukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) will launch a nationwide campaign on Sunday against the Centre’s ‘Agnipath’ scheme for recruitment in the Army.
This campaign will be started with the support of ‘United Front’ of retired military personnel and various youth organizations.
Yogendra Yadav, president of ‘Swaraj India’, said on Saturday that taking the first step under the campaign, a ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ conference would be organized from August 7 to August 14.
“The campaign aims to make people aware of the disastrous consequences of the controversial Agneepath scheme and pressurize the Center to withdraw it using democratic, peaceful and constitutional means,” Yadav said in a press conference here.
“If (three) agricultural laws were cruel, then the ‘Agneepath’ scheme is disastrous. If our farmers and soldiers are in trouble, it threatens to break the backbone of our country. Our silence cannot become a reason to allow the government to destroy the defenders and food donors of the country. We have stopped them once, we can stop them again.
He said that some major programs under this campaign will be held in Jind district of Haryana, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Kolkata in West Bengal on Sunday.
Apart from this, programs will be held in Rewari (Haryana) and Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh) on August 9, Indore (Madhya Pradesh) and Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) on August 10 and Patna on August 11.
Yadav demanded that the Agneepath scheme should be withdrawn and the old system of regular and permanent recruitment should be restored.
‘Agneepath’ is a scheme for recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and Air Force, under which there is a provision for appointment on contract basis for four years.
