At the time when the opposition led by the grand old party signed a memorandum opposing the Agnipath scheme, Congress MP Manish Tiwari refused to sign the memorandum. This is not the 1st time the Congress MP showed support for the Agnipath scheme, last month too the senior leader backed this scheme and said India needs young armed forces.
The Congress faced a big embarrassment on Monday, as senior leader Manish Tiwari refused to sign an opposition memorandum opposing the Agnipath Scheme, the centre’s new military requirement scheme. Six members from the opposition camp- Shaktisinh Gohil (Congress), AD Singh (RJD), Rajni Patel (Congress), Supriya Sule (NCP), Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), Professor Saugata Roy ( TMC) put their sign on the memorandum and submitted it to defence minister Rajnath Singh.
Sources say Tiwari did not sign the memorandum addressed to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who was addressing the parliamentary committee and was explaining to the members about the scheme. During the time of the Defence Minister’s presentation, some of the members demanded to withdraw the scheme. With the Defence minister, the three chiefs of the armed forces were also present in the meeting, and opposition MPs from Congress, TMC, and NCP raised objections about the scheme in front of the heads of the armed forces.
This is not the 1st instance when Manish Tiwari is backing the scheme, last month Tiwari supported the scheme and said he felt the need for young blood in the armed forces.
Tiwari addressed the media and said “ I do empathize with youth who have concerns over the Agneepath recruitment process. In reality, India needs a younger armed force with a lighter human footprint savvy on technology and equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry. Armed forces of the Union shouldn’t be an employment guarantee program”.
