'Are we terrorists': Protesting Army aspirants at Secunderabad station ask

Most of the protesters gathered on Friday at the Secunderabad railway station youngsters, aspiring for defence force jobs, who had cleared medical and physical fitness rounds and were waiting to appear for the written test.

Several of these youngsters alleged that the examination had not been conducted for two years due to Covid-19. “We received our hall tickets long ago, but the test was postponed five-six times,” one of the gathered aspirants from rural Telangana said.

However, even these youngsters would have to enrol afresh under the Agnipath recruitment scheme.

Over 1,500 such agitating aspirants from different parts of the state gathered at the Secunderabad station because they saw the railway station as “a major symbol of the central government that proposed to bring in the new Army recruitment scheme.”

Also read: Train stations, highways turn into battleground as youth fury over 'Agnipath' singes nation

The protesters reportedly coordinated through WhatsApp groups formed two days ago, following the announcement of the scheme by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh earlier this week.

One of the protesters said: “We began our protest in a peaceful manner at 8:30 am but the police action provoked us to react violently. Who gave them the orders to fire at us, do we look like some terrorists?”

To control the protesting mob, the police had to resort to firing. One person reportedly died in the firing.

The Agnipath recruitment scheme proposes to recruit youth in the 17.5 – 21 age group into the Army for four years. Following the large-scale protests, one-time relaxation of age was given in the 2022 recruitment cycle, increasing the upper age limit to 23.

The new defence recruitment scheme changes the duration of the job, as well as the pension benefits—as opposed to the earlier system of 15 years’ job guarantee and guaranteed pension afterwards, Agnipath proposes just a four-year contract with fewer severance benefits.

The aspirants are thus demanding that the Army should revert to the previous system.

Many of the youth said they were training for years to join the Army and “did not have any other job skills or options.”

“We came here to express our problems and seek justice (but things went out of control),” another youth said, adding that they had no connection with any political party. “We do not even understand politics.”