Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann meets a protester amid 'Agnipath' row
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann stopped his convoy after a man protesting against the new military recruitment scheme 'Agnipath' asked him for a talk, the Aam Aadmi Party, or AAP, said in a video tweet.
The video shows Mr Mann greeting people somewhere in Punjab during a roadshow. He is seen standing through the sunroof of his protected SUV, when a man in a black t-shirt waved at him.
Soon, the convoy stopped and the man rushed towards the Chief Minister's white Ford Endeavour. The man shook hands with Mr Mann, and said, "All the leaders should have met and discussed 'Agnipath' before implementing it."
Mr Mann, still holding the protester's hand from the sunroof of the vehicle, replied, "If MPs meet to discuss 'Agnipath', I will personally go there."
Though the opposition parties in the centre have condemned violent protests by military aspirants in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other states, they have backed the demands of the aspirants that the centre should sit down for negotiations.
The opposition also says the government should have held consultations and taken views from other leaders before announcing such a radical shift in recruitment to the armed forces.
The protests, meanwhile, continues in some states, the most intense being in Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar. The centre has announced several concessions amid the protests. There will be a 10 per cent quota in Defence Ministry jobs, spread across the Coast Guard and defence civilian posts, and all the 16 defence public sector undertakings. This reservation would be in addition to existing reservation for ex-servicemen.
On top of all this, the government announced 10 per cent reservation for 'Agniveers' in the Central Armed Police Forces, or CAPFs, and the Assam Rifles, which comes under the Defence Ministry.