Exclusive: Rajnath Singh's 'Back Off' Reply To Opposition On Playing Politics Over Agnipath Scheme

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in an exclusive interview to NDTV dismissed the Opposition's charge that the Agnipath scheme is not useful, and doubled down on the government's stand that the four-year enlistment programme will benefit a large section of the young, employable population.

"I am fully confident the Agnipath scheme is successful and will remain so. One of the factors behind starting this scheme is to bring more young people into the armed forces," Mr Singh told NDTV.

Under the Agnipath scheme, selected candidates are enrolled as Agniveers for a four-year period. On completion of programme, Agniveers will return to the society as disciplined, dynamic, motivated and skilled workforce for employment in other sectors to pursue their career in a job of their choice, according to the government. Of these, up to 25 per cent of Agniveers will be enrolled in the armed forces as regular cadre.

"The other factor is we should strive to have a section of the population disciplined in the form of Agniveers. When needed, they will have the right skills to help out in the frontline," Mr Singh told NDTV. "It is not a crime to prepare Agniveers to be disciplined," he added.

On the Opposition's allegations that the Agnipath scheme would harm the future of young adults who are just entering the workforce, Mr Singh said: "I want to assure the youths that we will not allow anyone to play with their future. An Agniveer is eligible from 18 years, and will remain so for four years. They will learn new skills, and at the end of the four years will have a few lakh of rupees.

"If any of them wants to find a job, they can. If any of them wants to enter the paramilitary forces, they can. If they want to enter the services, of course they can. We have even kept reservations for them. It's not like anyone can ignore them. The private sector also wants to hire Agniveers.

"Our government will not allow anyone to play with the future of our young population."

Mr Singh strongly criticised the Opposition for dragging the military into an election campaign issue. "They (Opposition) has only one agenda - to confuse citizens. They should not play politics over Agniveers and the military," he said.

Mr Singh contested from Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow constituency this time again. He had won from there twice. Lucknow is a prestigious seat previously represented by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

When the BJP retained power in 2019, with an even larger seat share than in 2014. Mr Singh remained one of the key members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet and was given charge of the Defence Ministry.

Keeping in mind the spirit of 'Make in India' and 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', Mr Singh banned the import of 101 defence-related items in 2020. In May 2021, he decided that 108 military weapons and systems, including next-generation corvettes, airborne early warning systems, tank engines and radars would be entirely made in India.