New Delhi. Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram said on Thursday that the Election Commission’s instruction to his party not to politicise the ‘Agneepath’ scheme is completely wrong. He also said that it is the opposition’s right to criticise the government’s policy.
The Election Commission on Wednesday slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Congress, advising them to refrain from campaigning on the basis of caste, community, language and religion in the Lok Sabha elections and said that elections cannot be allowed to harm the socio-cultural environment of the country. The Commission asked the Congress not to politicise the security forces and not to make divisive statements about the socio-economic structure of the armed forces. Chidambaram posted on ‘X’ that the Election Commission has done wrong by directing the Congress party not to ‘politicise’ the ‘Agneepath’ scheme.
He said, “What does politicization mean? Does the commission mean ‘criticizing’? ‘Agniveer’ is a scheme, a result of the government’s policy. It is the right of an opposition political party to criticize the government’s policy.” The former Union Minister said that if the Congress comes to power, this scheme will be abolished. Chidambaram said that the ‘Agneepath’ scheme creates two categories of soldiers, which is wrong. He said that in the ‘Agniveer’ scheme, a youth is employed for four years and is thrown out without pension. Chidambaram says that this system is wrong.