Shinzo Abe Killed By Short-Service Ex-Serviceman: TMC Says Assassination 'Validates' Fears Over Agnipath Scheme

The Trinamool Congress cautioned the Union government against the Agnipath scheme citing the assassination of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the hands of a short-service ex-serviceman.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party claimed that Shinzo Abe's assassination underlined the possible pitfalls of the Agnipath defence recruitment programme.

New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress has said that the recent assassination of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe underlined the possible pitfalls of the Agnipath scheme. It has cautioned the Union government against the new recruitment scheme, pointing to the fact that Abe was assassinated by a short-service ex-serviceman. The attacker lost his job in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force after three years of service and he was not getting any pension, the party claimed.

"The death of Abe at the hands of an ex-serviceman has only validated the fears of the people over the Agnipath scheme," the TMC’s mouthpiece ‘Jago Bangla’ (Wake up, Bengal) said in an article on Saturday, as quoted by news agency PTI.

Pointing to the attacker not getting any pension, the article stressed that Agniveers too would not get any pension after their four-year service period is over.

"The BJP is playing with fire in the name of Agnipath scheme…. We have seen what has happened in Japan. An ex-serviceman killed the former Prime Minister," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the state BJP rejected the apprehension stating that no Indian ex-servicemen had ever been involved in any such incident. The saffron party said that such apprehensions are baseless.

"We have never heard of any such incident in which an ex-serviceman of our country is involved. The TMC is just trying to politicise the matter," state BJP spokesperson Samik Samik Bhattacharya said. 

Even as the chiefs of defence forces gave assurances about 'Agnipath''s merits, several parts of India witnessed violent protests last month against the scheme with the agitators demanding its roll back as the new model does not provide a job guarantee to 75 per cent of recruits.

'Agnipath', announced on June 14, seeks to recruit youths between the age bracket of 17-and-half years and 21 for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years. For 2022, the upper age limit has been extended to 23 years considering that recruitments were stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.