A widow's appeal to govt: Please don't divide Army into two categories

Raebareli/Lucknow (UP): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met Kirti Chakra recipient Captain Anshuman Singh's mother, who later spoke against the Agnipath scheme and urged the government not to divide the Army into two categories.

Her appeal comes amid Gandhi raising questions on the Agnipath scheme and claiming that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh "lied" in Parliament about the issue of compensation to the families of martyred Agniveers.

"I request the government not to divide the Army into two categories," the late captain's mother Manju Singh told reporters after Gandhi met her at a guesthouse in Raebareli.

The four-year job role is not appropriate as Agniveers who are let go would struggle to find another suitable career, she said while raising apprehension on the Army scheme launched in 2022 for short-term recruitment of jawans.

"They (Agniveers) will be mentally and physically weak after four years after which they would be unable to pursue their studies... this is not good," she added.

Her son was posthumously confer red the Kirti Chakra by President Droupadi Murmu on July 5 during an investiture ceremony. Capt Singh died while rescuing people from a major fire in July last year. (PTI)