Urging the Centre to reconsider the Agnipath Scheme, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, reiterated that the Agnipath Scheme is neither in the interest of the youth nor in the interest of the nation.

“The government must reconsider the scheme and withdraw the scheme as the youth are disappointed with this scheme and the attitude of the government,” said Hooda during a press conference in Rohtak.

Alleging that the government is “playing” with the future of the army and the youth by implementing the Agnipath Scheme, he said, “If the government does not take it back, the Congress will adopt all constitutional means to oppose it. Even today, Congress has staged a sit-in in the entire country including Delhi and the party will continue to strongly oppose this.”

Hooda said that a scheme like Agneepath cannot be implemented in India by citing the examples of countries like Israel or America.

“We simply cannot compare our situation with countries which have a lower population, lesser unemployment or where people are reluctant to join the armed forces. Our youth takes great pride in joining the armed forces,” he said.

Hooda also said it is not right to carry out such a massive military reform in one go, that too without any pilot project or taking the affected sections into confidence. By giving the example of the sports policy implemented by his own government, he said that his government made many reforms in sports.

“Before we made radical changes, the infrastructure was strengthened and to ensure the future of the players, a policy like ‘Medal Lao, Pad Pao’ (Win a medal, get a job) was made. This is the reason why our sportspersons have brought glory to the motherland in the sports arena. Similarly, the government should secure the future of soldiers to lift the morale of the forces,” he said.

Hooda also described himself as half a soldier as he was a student of Sainik School and said that the national interest is always supreme. “This is why I am rising above politics and demanding a withdrawal of the Agnipath Scheme in the broader interest of the country,” he said.