Amid, nationwide protests against the ‘Agnipath’ scheme for the armed forces, senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Sunday said he would prefer recruiting ‘Agniveers’ as security guards at the party office, reports Times Now.
Talking to reporters, the BJP leader said discipline and following orders are important parts of the armed forces.
“Suppose ‘Agniveer’ joins the armed forces at the age of 21 then he will still be 25 by the time he leaves the forces. He will have Rs. 11 lakh cash in his hand and will proudly flaunt the ‘Agniveer’ medal on his chest. If I have to hire someone for the security for the BJP office here, I will give a preference to him,” the senior BJP leader said.
After his statement went viral, the BJP leader in a tweet blamed the “toolkit gang” for twisting and distorting his remarks.
People associated with the toolkit are trying to insult the ‘Agniveer’ by distorting my statement and the nation is well aware of the conspiracies hatched by them, he added.
Reacting to his statement, Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said “our armed forces will also train for Agniveers to become security guards. This is trivialising the importance of our men in uniform.”
Earlier, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy had reportedly said that those who will be recruited under the scheme will be trained with the skills of drivers, electricians, barbers and other professionals.
His remark invited sharp reactions with AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi saying that serving in the army is a prestigious profession with no parallel.
“These men are willing to kill or get killed for India. If they wanted to be drivers, etc why would they spend 4 years in the army? It’s clear that BJP sees ‘Agniveers’ as nothing but chowkidaars on hire,” Owaisi tweeted.
He also blasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he is playing with India’s security and destroying the future of youth.
Now we know what BJP’s ‘Main Bhi Chowkidaar’ campaign meant: Cong’
The Congress on Sunday took a dig at the BJP over its leader Kailash Vijayvargiya’s remarks suggesting that he will give priority to ‘agniveers’ for security jobs at his party’s office, saying now “we know” what the BJP really meant when it launched the ‘Main Bhi Chowkidaar’ campaign in 2019.
Amid protests over the Agnipath scheme for recruitment into the armed forces, BJP general secretary Vijayvargiya said if he has to hire the services of professionals to arrange security at the party office, he would give priority to those who have served as Agniveer soldiers.
Tagging the screenshot of a media report on Vijayvargiya’s remarks, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “Now we know what the BJP really meant when they launched the campaign in 2019, ‘Main Bhi Chowkidaar’…”
On its officical Twitter handle, the Madhya Congress said, “BJP general secretary insulting soldiers. Agniveer will become a watchman outside the BJP office. Mr. Modi, this was the mentality we were afraid of – shameless government.”
Earlier, in another tweet, Ramesh took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Agnipath scheme, posting five mantras of ‘Modi path’.
He said the angry farmers and angry soldiers had become India’s new identity.
Ramesh also said the government first announces a measure and then gets into a huddle to resolve issues arising out of it.
He also accused the government of selling the country’s prized possessions.