By PTI
NEW DELHI: Activists from various student organisations hit the streets here on Friday to protest against the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme, leading to closure of gates at some metro stations and keeping police on their toes.
The Delhi Police said no permission was granted to these groups to stage demonstrations.
Even as the protests against the scheme escalated across the country, Delhi remained relatively quiet.
Police made traffic arrangements to ensure that the commuters were not inconvenienced due to the stir.
The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) claimed that the main gate of its Raisina Road office here was barricaded by the Delhi Police without assigning any reason, turning the premises into a “police cantonment”.
The police, however, said they had just made “adequate security arrangements” as the IYC had no permission to take out a protest march.
“Our entire office on Raisina Road has been barricaded.
We are not being allowed to go outside and the members trying to enter the office are being stopped and detained.
No reason has been given for this barricading,” IYC’s national media in-charge Rahul Rao said.
A senior police officer said prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were issued in the area, banning large gatherings.
The activists of several student groups, including the left-affiliated AISA, staged a protest against the Agnipath scheme here and termed it “disastrous”.
The All India Students’ Association (AISA) alleged that the scheme is nothing but a design to destroy permanent jobs in the armed forces.
The protesters raised slogans such as “Agnipath wapas lo, tanashahi nahi chalegi (take back Agnipath, dictatorship will not work)” and also held up placards that read: “Immediately fill all vacant posts in defence on a permanent basis” and “Rollback Agnipath scheme”.
Both the AISA and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) alleged that several of their members were “brutally detained”.
A senior police officer said 17-18 people gathered at the ITO to hold a protest.
They were detained and immediately removed from the area.
The entry and exit gates of some metro stations were closed as AISA members protested against the defence recruitment scheme and demanded its rollback.
The gates were opened subsequently.
At Khajuri Khas in northeast Delhi, police registered a case against some unidentified people for allegedly trying to block traffic and damaging a bus in protest against the scheme.
Several organisations, including the Sanyukt Rojgaar Andolan Samiti (SRAS), the Desh Ki Baat Foundation and the AISA, have given a protest call for Monday against the scheme.
The Chhatra-Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), the Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA), the SFI and the SVS will also participate in the protest.
Protests have erupted in several states since Wednesday against the Agnipath scheme to recruit soldiers in the Army, the Navy and the Air Force for a four-year period, followed by compulsory retirement for most without gratuity and pension benefits.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said the protests across the country are proof that the youth of country will never accept the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme.
Earlier in the day, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) extended its support to the demands of youth for the roll back of the scheme but made a fervent appeal to the protesters to exercise their right to protest in a democratic manner, instead of resorting to vandalism and arson.
“Every youth has the right to join the Army and dedicate their whole life for the country, but today the BJP is depriving them of this right.
The demonstrations happening across the country are clear proof that the youth of India will never accept Agnipath.
No policy or law can be greater than the passion for service to the nation,” Sisodia said in a tweet in Hindi.
TRS Working President and Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao on Friday demanded the Centre to review the ‘Agnipath’ scheme, alleging that the NDA government has taken a unilateral decision on it.
In a statement issued in Hyderabad, the Minister alleged that the scheme is “killing” the aspirations of millions of youth who want to join the armed forces and serve the nation.
Demanding that the Centre take complete responsibility for the protests taking place across the nation, he said the NDA government has reduced the army from ‘one rank-one pension’ to ‘no rank-no pension.’
“The BJP government at the Centre has played with the lives of farmers with draconian farm laws and is now adversely affecting the soldiers with schemes like Agnipath,” he charged.
He stated that this is a scheme that is pushing national security and future of youth into danger.
The TRS Working President stated that 75 per cent of the youth who join the army through the Agnipath scheme would become unemployed at the end of the fourth year.
He questioned what would happen to the youth who finish a four-year career in the army and come out.
KTR demanded the Prime Minister to respond to these protests and also make his stand public to clear the doubts of the unemployed youth.
He conveyed his condolences to the youth who “died in the protests” at the Secunderabad Railway station on Friday and said the Centre should take complete responsibility for the death.
