Rajnath refutes caste factor in Agnipath recruitment scheme
Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday rejected allegations by several Opposition leaders and a Bharatiya Janata Party ally that the army was using caste as a factor for recruitment under the Agnipath scheme, saying the claims were “rumours” as no change was made in the recruitment system that has been in place since before Independence.
“I want to make it clear that this is a rumour. The (recruitment) system which was in place before Independence is being continued and there is no change to this,” Singh told reporters in Parliament complex. Singh’s clarification came after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh and Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav launched a sharp attack on the government.
Janata Dal (United) leader Upendra Kushwaha and BJP MP Varun Gandhi also shared a purported document linked to the Agnipath recruitment exercise to question the need for a caste certificate and raised concerns.
The AAP Rajya Sabha member in a tweet claimed that candidates have been asked to mention their caste in the army recruitment and shared a screenshot of the recently released Agnipath notification by the army.
He also asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi “does not consider Dalits, backwards and tribals eligible for serving in the armed forces”.
“The cheap face of the Modi government has come out in front of the country... Modi ji, you have to make ‘Agniveer’ or ‘Jaativeer’,” Sanjay Singh posted
in a tweet in Hindi.
Tejashwi Yadav alleged that the “extremely casteist government of the Sangh (RSS) at the Centre’” will now look at Agnipath recruits’ caste and religion while discharging 75% of them.
The Agnipath scheme seeks to recruit soldiers for only four years, with a provision to retain 25% of them in the regular cadre for 15 years after another round of screening.
“When there is no reservation in the army, then what is the need for a caste certificate,” Yadav tweeted, sharing the purported army document which sought caste and religious certificates among other documents from applicants.
“The BJP government of the RSS runs away from caste census but asks agniveers who will lay down their lives for the country about their caste,” he said.
Earlier, the Indian Army said the matter, requiring caste and religion certificates, was always there and there has been no change for the Agnipath scheme.
“The requirement for aspirants to submit caste certificates and, if required, religion certificates has always been there. There has not been any change to the Agnipath recruitment scheme in this regard,” the army said.