Vijayvargiya's remark on Agniveers shows BJP's mindset: Gopal Rai

The comment by BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya yesterday that BJP will give security guard jobs to Agniveers in BJP offices shows the mindset of the BJP, Rai said as he participated in a protest called by Sanyukt Rojgaar Andolan Samiti SRAS at Jantar Mantar here against the Agnipath scheme.Aspirants preparing for recruitment in the Army are opposing the scheme but the government is not letting people protest peacefully, he claimed.This is murder of democracy, but it cannot barricade the voice against the Agnipath scheme.

Delhi Environment Minister and AAP leader Gopal Rai on Monday said BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya's remark apparently suggesting that he will give priority to ‘Agniveers’ for security jobs at his party office showed the mindset of the saffron party.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP office in Indore on Sunday, Vijayvargiya made the remarks while defending the Centre’s Agnipath scheme on four-year contractual military recruitment that has sparked protests in many parts of the country and is being questioned by many parties. ''The comment by BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya yesterday that BJP will give security guard jobs to Agniveers in BJP offices shows the mindset of the BJP,'' Rai said as he participated in a protest called by Sanyukt Rojgaar Andolan Samiti (SRAS) at Jantar Mantar here against the Agnipath scheme.

Aspirants preparing for recruitment in the Army are opposing the scheme but the government is not letting people protest peacefully, he claimed.

''This is murder of democracy, but it cannot barricade the voice against the Agnipath scheme. Five revisions within five days of the Agnipath scheme's announcement shows unpreparedness of the central government,” Rai said.

There is a problem of unemployment in the country and it is imperative to formulate a national employment policy to address it.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote, ''Modi government is creating conditions of undeclared emergency by banning peaceful demonstrations at Jantar Mantar against Agnipath plan. Today, the entire Jantar Mantar has been converted into a cantonment. How to raise the voice of dissent in a democracy?'' A poster and a statement of BJP leader Vijayvargiya was also burnt by the protesters against his remark.