INDIA govt to scrap Agnipath scheme, send Rs 8,500 to women's accounts each month: Rahul Gandhi

PALIGANJ: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed that the INDIA bloc, if voted to power, would scrap the Agnipath scheme of recruitment in defence services and deposit Rs 8,500 to every woman's account in each month.

Addressing back-to-back election rallies in favour of Mahagathbandhan nominees in Bihar, he asserted that Narendra Modi will not be able to become the prime minister again, since there is a clear wave in favour of the INDIA bloc across the country.

"When the INDIA block will form the government, the Agnipath scheme will be withdrawn," Gandhi said at Bakhtiyarpur.

The scheme, announced by the Narendra Modi government in 2022, envisages recruiting young soldiers, called 'Agniveers' after appointment, on a contractual basis for four years and retiring 75 per cent of them without certain benefits enjoyed by those who were not employed under this programme.

He said, "The INDIA bloc, if voted to power, will throw the Agnipath scheme into the dustbin. Modi Ji has turned soldiers into labourers. The Centre has made two categories in the Army -- Agniveer and the others. If an Agniveer gets injured or martyred, he will neither get a martyr status nor compensation... Why is this discrimination?"

After the formation of the INDIA block government at the Centre, Gandhi said, "From July, Rs 8,500 will be deposited in women's accounts every month. This will change the financial condition of every family.

Taking a jibe at the prime minister's 'sent by God' comment, the Congress leader remarked in jest, "After June 4, if ED asks Modi about corruption, he will say I don't know anything...I was sent by God'."

Gandhi claimed that Modi has created 22 billionaires, while the INDIA bloc government would create crores of millionaires.

He accused PM Modi of waiving loans worth Rs 16 lakh crore of his "billionaire friends", and said the country will never forgive him for this.

The former Congress president alleged that Modi snatched money from the poor and gave it to corporates who invested it in foreign countries.

"This election is to save the country, save the constitution, save democracy and save reservation for the poor," he said at another rally in Paliganj.

The Congress leader also claimed that the government formed by the INDIA bloc after the elections would open all closed industries and fill up 30 lakh job vacancies.

RJD leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahni, and other INDIA bloc leaders attended the rallies addressed by Gandhi.