Modi 3.0: JD(U) wants ‘modifications’ in Agniveer scheme, backs UCC and ’one nation, one poll’

The Janata Dal (United) believes that the Agniveer scheme for recruitment into the rank and file of the Armed Forces impacted the Lok Sabha election result. Under this scheme, youth are recruited for four years. After this, only 25% of agniveers will be retained, and the rest will be released with some financial benefits.

Since its implementation in 2022, the defence community has poorly received the scheme, which is believed to have compromised the forces' warfighting capability and unfairly disadvantaged soldiers. The Congress had even promised to scrap this new army recruitment scheme and return to the older one in its manifesto for Lok Sabha polls 2024.

On Thursday, JD(U) spokesperson KC Tyagi called for modifications in the Agniveer scheme. “The Agniveer scheme has been heavily criticised since its introduction, and we saw its impact on elections, too. We need to make changes in this new army recruitment," he told Aaj Tak.

“A section of voters has been upset over the Agniveer scheme. Our party wants those shortcomings which have been questioned by the public to be discussed in detail and removed...On UCC, as the national president of the party, CM had written to the Law Commission chief. We are not against it but a solution should be found by talking to all stakeholders,” Tyagi also told ANI.

The JDU, whose support is essential for the NDA government's stability, has expressed no objection to the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) but emphasizes the need for discussions with all stakeholders. Before poll campaigns, Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the UCC would be implemented during the Modi government's third term.

On the other hand, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav contested Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh in an alliance with Congress also called for scrapping the Agniveer scheme. 

“I think Agniveer system should be scrapped immediately. Government should admit that it made a mistake, that it should not have introduced Agniveer system…,” Yadav told media persons. 

Last month, former army chief General VK Singh proposed that modifications might be considered in the Agnipath scheme after the initial batch of recruits finishes four years of service. Singh, who was army chief from March 2010 to May 2012, noted that the first batch of Agniveers had already been deployed to their units.