Jairam Ramesh finds a 'Chowkidaar’ connection to Vijayvargiya’s guard comment

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Sunday took a dig at the BJP over its party leader Kailash Vijayvargiya's latest comment regarding appointment of Agniveers (Agnipath recruits) for the security of its offices.

The AICC general secretary for communication said the BJP’s ‘Main Bhi Chowkidaar’ campaign during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections now became clear.

Sharing a news article with Vijayvargiya’s comment, Ramesh said, “Now we know what the BJP really meant when they launched the campaign in 2019, ‘Main Bhi Chowkidaar’…”

The BJP national general secretary has landed in a fresh controversy after making the statement at a press conference. A video of the same has now gone viral, leading to massive backlash from the Opposition.

In the video, the BJP leader is seen telling reporters, “When an Agniveer will take training and come out after serving in the defence sector for four years at the age of 21 to 25 years, he will have ₹11 lakh. He will have the tag of an Agniveer. If I want to hire security for the BJP office, I will give priority to Agniveer.”

Also read: BJP's Kailash Vijayvargiya accuses ‘toolkit gang’ of distorting his statement on 'Agniveers'

Soon after, the Congress on its official Twitter handle said the BJP government is “trying to hide its failures through Agnipath... But, this anti-national scheme is very dangerous for the security of the country.”

Others too, including Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi hit out at the BJP leader.

Later, Vijayvargiya issued a ‘clarification’ stating that an “Agniveer will definitely be trained and committed to duty, his excellence will be utilised in whatever field he will go after completing his service in the army - that is clearly what I meant”.

The government introduced the Agnipath recruitment scheme on June 14 under which recruits - called 'as Agniveers' will serve a four-year tour of duty after which 75 percent will be retired without benefits. The scheme has triggered massive protests across the country with incidents of violence being reported from states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana. Amid demands of its rollback, the government on Sunday said the same will not be done.

Amid the escalating protests, several government ministries have announced reservations for 'Agniveers' after their four-year service in the armed forces. Meanwhile, some BJP-ruled states including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Karnataka have promised jobs to Agniveers in their state departments.