From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Congress leaders and workers held a Satyagrah at the Jantar Mantar here for the second day against the antij-youth Agnipath scheme and the Modi Government’s vendetta politics targeting its leader Rahul Gandhi with an attempt to pressurise the Congress by letting the Enforcement Directorate (ED) interrogate for more than 30 hours in a false National Herald case claiming money laundering. Its general secretary Ajay Maken accused the government of planting false and selective news to damage the image of the Congress and turning the AICC headquarters into a Police Chhavni (cantonment) letting Delhi Police resort to lathicharge on the leaders of the Congress, the main opposition party in the country. As regards the government’s bid to force Agnipath scheme instead of the regular recruitment in the Armed Forces, Maken said it is an insult to first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, who wanted that the soldiers, the lowest rank in thee forces who retire after 17 years, to continue in the services up to 58 years, by moving a proposal in 2020. He said the Agnipath scheme of tension to the youth’s retirement in his prime age after 4 years of service with “no rank, no pension” is against the thinking of late General Rawat. He also released a circular issued on November 10, 2020 by the Defence Ministry to increase the ages of retirement to 57 years up to the rank of colonels, 58 in case of Brigadiers and equivalent and 59 in case of Major generals and equivalent. The circular also envisaged increase of pension of those boarded out as pre-mature release (PMR) because of lesser vacancies and some service restrictions, noting that “such loss of high skilled manpower results in void in the Services skill matrix. The suggested pensions were 50% of entitled pension to those completing 20-25 years of service, 60% in case of 26-30 years, 75% in case pof 31-35 years and full pension to those above 35 years of service. Maken also questioned the Enforcement Directorate for interrogating Rahul Gandhi without FIR and without registering a scheduled crime in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), asserting that it can not initiate any probe without the FIR. He once again demanded release of the FIR to Rahul and the Congress. He also blasted the ED and the CBI for running a “Glow and Lovely” scheme, envisaging all crimes waived against those who stop speaking against the government and join the BJP. Examples are aplenty, he said, citing how the two agencies dropped all cases against Assam Chief Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma once he defected from Congress to the BJP, or Union Minister Narayan Rane, whose ED and Income Tax cases were dropped once he defected to the BJP from the Congress or Somen Mitra, Mukul Rai and Suvendu Sarkar who got the clean chit once they joined the BJP. Maken also commented on the figures of the ED, whom he dubs as Election Management Deparment of the BJP. It has registered 5,422 cases but 98% of them or 5,310 cases were registered in the past eight years. He also released a notice sent by senior advocate Vivek Tankha, head of the Congress Legal Department, asserting that Section 66 of the PMLA prohibit release of any false and selective information during the ED probe. None has gained benefit of a single paisa in the National Herald case and yet Rahul has been summoned for investigation by the ED for the fourth day.
