'Agniveer' scheme brought to benefit business house: Rahul Gandhi

Mohania (Bihar): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked the Narendra Modi government, alleging that it brought the Agniveer scheme to spend the defence budget for the benefit of a big business house, instead of for emoluments paid to the soldiers.

Gandhi made the allegation at Mohania in Kaimur district of Bihar, bordering Uttar Pradesh, a region from where youngsters are known to enrol in the armed forces on a large scale and which was witness to extensive protests against the Agniveer scheme two years ago.

"An Agniveer will not get salary and pension on par with a regular army soldier nor will he get access to the canteen. Worse still, he will not be treated a martyr (in case of death on duty), even though he will be discharging his duties with the same passion as a regular jawan," Gandhi said.

The former Congress president said, "This is because the Modi government does not want to spend the defence budget on salary and other perks of soldiers. It wants to spend the amount for the benefit of Adani".

Gandhi has been levelling various charges against the Adani Group. The corporate group, however, rejected them all.

The Congress leader said, "If you look at the coverage in the media, you find little mention of farmers and other people and opposition leaders like us. You will find Modi sharing space with his friends in the big businesses and also celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai".

Sometimes Nitish Kumar can also be found beside the prime minister, he said, evoking peals of laughter from the crowd.

The remark was aimed at the Bihar chief minister who recently dumped the opposition bloc INDIA and returned to the BJP-led coalition.

Gandhi added: "Because of the policies of the Modi government, youngsters can no longer look for employment in the armed forces, railways or any other public sector unit. The government in Delhi wants to reduce you all to the status of a contract labour who can be fired at will."

Reiterating his pitch for the caste census, the Congress leader said, "You look at any sector and you will see negligible representation, at the top level, of OBCs, Dalits and tribals, which together account for 73 per cent of the total population. This is the situation when I am not taking into account the minorities."

The situation prevails even in the higher judiciary, Gandhi claimed.

"Of 650 judges in high courts of the country, the number of judges from this 73 per cent segment of the population is not more than 100," claimed the former Congress president.

"On the other hand, take up any list of contractual labourers or even the unemployed. It would be dominated by people from this 73 per cent. You may also find a few from the poor among the general classes", said Gandhi.

The Congress leader, who spoke before his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered the adjoining state of Uttar Pradesh, was joined at the rally by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, among others.

Gandhi, who began his address with a chatty quizzical remark "How is the mood", said, "One trait that members of our party and our allies like Lalu ji (Tejashwi's father and RJD president) share is that we keep smiling under all circumstances".

On the other hand, those in the BJP, including Prime Minister Modi and his cabinet colleagues, keep a glum face and seem to be full of venom for others, he claimed.

"They also seem to think ill of those who do not agree with them. The RSS and the BJP have spread hatred across the country," Gandhi alleged.

He said, "The catchphrase of our Yatra, 'nafrat ke bazar mein muhabbat ki dukan' (shop of love in the market of hate), reflects our value system though it was not coined by our party. It was suggested by a commoner who was impressed with my previous Bharat Jodo Yatra".

Earlier, Gandhi had interacted with farmers at "Kisan Mahapanchayat" in Sasaram, the headquarters of the adjoining Rohtas district.

Slamming the Modi government for not paying heed to farmers who were protesting in Delhi to press the demand for a minimum support price for their produce, Gandhi gave the assurance that if voted to power, the Congress will give "legal guarantee" for MSP.