BJP firefights protests and politics over Agnipath

As nationwide protests raged on against Centre's 'Agnipath' scheme, the ruling BJP got into a firefighting mode deploying all its ministers and senior leaders to counter the criticism and convince people of the scheme's virtues.

The desperation was understandable as this was the first such massive protest by youths against Modi government in last eight years since it came to power in 2014 with the youngsters not showing a willingness to buy the theory of the scheme being a "golden opportunity" and BJP's reactions ranged from appealing the youth to accept the scheme to outrightly rejecting the protestors as "goons" (of RJD in Bihar).

With the houses of BJP state chief and Deputy Chief Minister belonging to the saffron party being attacked in NDA-ruled Bihar and Chief Minister from JDU Nitish Kumar calling for a 'review' of the decision of the four-year recruitment, the challenged seemed mounting for the government which is battling to restore normalcy on railway tracks and highways. Many within the ruling party whispered about the 'haste' with which the scheme was announced without consultations having done the damage.

The dilemma is there to see. While Union Minister Giriraj Singh blamed "RJD goons" behind the protests against Agnipath scheme, Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal, whose house was attacked, said many of the attackers were "not army aspirants' '.

BJP chief J P Nadda sought to highlight the government on Thursday raising the upper age limit for recruitment under the scheme from 21 years to 23 years saying it goes on to show that "Modi is fully seized of the concerns of the country's youth and is making efforts for their bright future".

The counter came from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who said that the very fact that the government had to change the rules of the new army recruitment scheme within 24 hours, goes on to prove that the plan was imposed on the youth in a hurry and asked the Prime Minister to "withdraw the scheme immediately".

The ruling BJP, which stooped to conquer on both farmer bills and land bill issues earlier, is for the time being pressing ahead with the new scheme with the forces already having announced plans to carry out new recruitments.

However, given the nature of protests, some sort of a reconsideration on the issue cannot be ruled out as the Modi government can ill afford to lose the constituency of youths, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had nurtured in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and after.

The protest in the states where the dependence on government jobs is more for the youths have seen more widespread protest. Hence the 'bulldozer' action is unlikely to be repeated in this case as was seen after some other protests recently or the crackdown against those protesting against the CAA.

Centre's Railway Ministry bearing the maximum brunt with the burning of train compartments and protests on railway streets has already cancelled more than 200 trains, forcing sort of paralysis in public movement.

There was an attempt by the ministers to distance the scheme from the perception of it being only a job centric measure. Union Minister Giriaj Singh and Pralhad Joshi said the scheme will :inspire the youth of the country to show courage and serve the nation".

"Our 'Agniveer', dedicated to the service of Bharat Mata, will prove to be an invaluable fund for the nation," was his refrain while Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur who interacted with youths in his constituency in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh highlighted how the scheme is an attempt to "make youth serve the country through the army and provide them employment-skill opportunities".

The protest this time is more widespread, more violent and more massive than the year-long farmer stir against the three contentious farm laws, which had cost the BJP an old ally Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab.

Ultimately the government had to withdraw the contentious laws before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Even the 2015 protest in the country against the government's ordinance on the new Land Acquisition law, which it had to withdraw due to political reasons, was not so reactionary.

The agitation of job aspirants against the government's new scheme has come on the back of organised agitations and campaigns by Opposition parties including Rahul Gandhi-led Congress on the issue of joblessness in the country in the last few months.

Opposition parties have latched on to the agitation with Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal deciding to enforce a Bihar Bandh on Saturday and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacking the government for its alleged unilateral decision. "Agnipath - Youth rejected. Farm laws - farmers rejected. Noteban - economists rejected. GST - traders rejected.

The prime minister does not understand what the people of the country want as he cannot hear anything except the voice of his friends," Gandhi tweeted. In party-ruled Rajasthan, Congress also staged protests across the state against the scheme.

Congress MP Deepinder Singh Hooda in Haryana asked the government "not to make the same mistake as you (government) did during the farmers' agitation which saw the death of over 700 protesting farmers" and asked for immediate recall of the scheme.

Congress has demanded a special session of Parliament of an all-party meeting to discuss the issue.