Param Vir Chakra winner and Honorary Army Captain Bana Singh has said that the Agneepath scheme will cost a “heavy price”. He said that this scheme will destroy the army and will benefit Pakistan-China.
Honorary Army Captain Bana Singh, who is staying at his home in Jammu, spoke to the English newspaper The Telegraph over the phone.
“The four-year Agnipath plan will ruin and destroy the Indian Army. It should not have been implemented at all,” he said.
According to the news, Singh had also made a tweet on the Agnipath scheme but he deleted it after he started getting phone calls. However, he said that he will continue to speak his mind and will always speak for the rights of the army and its good.
Bana Singh had tweeted on Tuesday, “Save the country, Agnipath scheme will badly damage us, India is going through a crucial stage. Youngsters are the future of our motherland.” However, this tweet was deleted on Wednesday.
When asked about this, Singh said, “I had asked my son to tweet… I started getting calls. So I also asked my son to delete the tweet. I thought when the government decided to implement this scheme. If you have made up your mind to implement, then what is the point of this tweet?”
Singh, 73, said the manner in which the Agnipath scheme has been imposed on everyone is tantamount to ‘dictatorship’.
He said, “In a democracy such drastic decisions cannot be taken without consultation with all parties and ex-servicemen, who know a lot about the military because they have actually fought a war. Never before. Not done.” Singh said, “It is like dictatorship – like I have taken a decision and it has to be implemented.”
Under the army’s new Agnipath recruitment scheme, three-fourths of the lower rank soldiers will be removed from service after four years of service without pension or gratuity. It is believed that this recruitment scheme has been implemented with the aim of reducing the salary and pension bills of the army.
Youth who dreamed of joining the army also protested against this scheme in different parts of the country last week. At the same time, ex-servicemen also say that this plan will harm both the army and the society.
Singh said, “Agneepath scheme can benefit India’s enemies. Becoming a soldier is not a sport. It takes years of training. What kind of training will they get in just six months?”
“It doesn’t matter what any one person says. The whole country will have to say this. The country will have to pay a huge price for this (Agneepath scheme),” he said.
He said, “Those who decided to bring this plan have no idea about the armed forces. The army cannot be explained as a toy. China and Pakistan will take advantage of this. Chinese soldiers will penetrate further into our territory.”