Agnipath a fraud on youths, govt should reconsider: Meghalaya Guv Satya Pal Malik
Baghpat, Jun 26: Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik Sunday slammed the 'Agnipath' scheme as a "fraud" with the hopes of future jawans and said those retiring without a pension after serving the armed forces for four years would hardly attract any marriage proposal.
Malik, who has also served as Jammu and Kashmir governor, urged the government to "reconsider" the new scheme under which youths will be recruited as soldiers on a contractual basis.
Seventy-five per cent of the recruits will be retired -- they will be called Agniveers -- after four years of service with the benefit of pension or health insurance.
"Future jawans will train for six months, and they will have six months of leave. After three years of job, when they return to their homes, they will hardly get any marriage proposal," Malik told reporters here. "The Agnipath scheme is against future jawans, and a fraud with their hopes."
Malik, who is from Baghpat, had come to Khekra village here to pay condolences to the family of his friend Gaje Singh Dhama who died recently.
The governor said he had earlier raised the issue of farmers when they were protesting against the three now-repealed farm laws, and now will speak about the youth and their problems.
Asked by journalists if he should have quit as governor before raising these political issue, Malik quipped, "Had I got into the 'chakkar' (trap) of advisors like you, I would not have been able to reach this place."
"I will leave the post in a minute, if the person who has made me (a Governor) asks me to do so."
To a question on his post-retirement plans, he said he has no intention to enter active politics again or contest polls. "I will struggle for farmers and jawans wherever needed."
The former J&K governor said he will write a book on the border state of Kashmir after he demits office.
Asked if his attacks on the government would sharpen after he retires, Malik said, "It is not about the government. The issues I raise, if those are accepted, then it will be in favour of the government."
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Delhi LG recommends NIA probe against Kejriwal, AAP says conspiracy at BJP's behest
New Delhi, May 6: Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena has recommended an NIA probe against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly receiving political funding from the banned terrorist organisation 'Sikhs for Justice', Raj Niwas sources said on Monday.
AAP alleged that the recommendation is "yet another conspiracy" against Kejriwal at the behest of the BJP.
In a letter to the Union Home secretary, the lt governor's secretariat said Saxena had received a complaint that the Kejriwal-led AAP allegedly received USD 16 million funding from extremist Khalistani groups for facilitating the release of Devendra Pal Bhullar.
Bhullar, who is in Amritsar Central Jail, was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people in a bomb blast in 1993 in Delhi. He was sentenced to death by a designated TADA court on August 25, 2001 and is undergoing life imprisonment after the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence.
“The electronic evidences adduced by the complainant requires investigation including forensic examination,” Saxena has said in the letter according to sources.
The complaint is made against a chief minister and relates to political funding received from a banned terrorist organisation, the letter stated.
The move comes a day ahead of the Supreme Court considering granting Kejrwal interim bail in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The AAP chief, who is in Tihar jail, was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an excise policy linked money laundering case.
The complaint refers to a video released by Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, where he alleged that the Kejriwal-led AAP received USD 16 million from Khalistani groups between 2014 and 2022, sources said.
In the complaint to the LG, it has also been alleged that Kejriwal held closed-door meetings with Khalistani leaders at Gurudwara Richmond Hills, New York, during his visit in 2014. Kejriwal allegedly promised to facilitate the release of Bhullar in return for substantial financial backing from Khalistani factions to AAP.
In a series of posts on social media, a former AAP worker, Munish Kumar Raizada, also shared purported pictures of Kejriwal’s meeting with Khalistani leaders, the complaint said, according to sources.
Reacting to the development, AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj called it "yet another conspiracy against Kejriwal at the behest of BJP".
"They are losing all seven seats in Delhi and are rattled by the fear of defeat in Lok Sabha polls," he said.
Bhullar was shifted to Amritsar Central Jail from Delhi’s Tihar Jail on health grounds in June 2015.
