The Centre was offering a four-year job to aspirants who, at the end of the tenure, would have no career and no support from the government, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said of the Agnipath scheme. She was speaking in Burdwan at an event concerning farmers’ schemes.
Banerjee compared the defence recruitment scheme with the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana; she said initially cooking gas was offered free of cost, keeping general elections in mind. Once the elections were over the Bharatiya Janata Party MPs were nowhere to be seen, she said. “We demand that the job be offered not for four years, but till the age of 60, and if required till the age of 65,” she insisted on changing the Agnipath recruitment criteria.
The Trinamool Congress chief alleged that as a party in power, the BJP was acting as it wished to, and whoever spoke the truth, had to face agencies—the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. She said even a Shiv Sena leader was facing the brunt of an agency. “Is this how a country, a republic functions? People are frightened. Lakhs of people have left the country,” she claimed.
The accusation by the Chief Minister came at a time when the State and the BJP-led Centre were at loggerheads over release of funds for welfare schemes. The Centre-State stand-off continued as the central funds were yet to be disbursed to the West Bengal government, despite open letters, meetings and public tweets by the Trinamool Congress.
A TMC delegation had met the Union Minister of Rural Development recently to submit a memorandum regarding the freeze of funds. Banerjee said that if the issue wasn’t resolved, she would have to visit New Delhi herself. The chief minister also claimed that the BJP made big promises in the state during elections but had reservations over development schemes being named after the state.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks