(It appears that the Government knows that there are lacunae in the scheme which are likely to be identified by the top court)
While the top officials make it all about ‘tomorrow’s danger,’ the centre now seems to have come back to the defensive mode after it filed a caveat application in the Supreme Court where already a PIL has been filed seeking to examine the impacts of the ‘Agnipath Scheme’ on the national security of India. It appears that the Government knows that there are lacunae in the scheme which are likely to be identified by the court and that it might pass an adverse order—pertaining to the scheme which is already in the implementation phase, made swift with the issuance of the notification—before actually hearing its side.
The question that needs to be asked here is that if the Government is sure about the scheme being as per the principles of the constitution of India, does not have any other operational gaps, and will not prove detrimental to the national security of the country—which has on two of her sides, two hostile enemies which have been undermining the sovereignty and the integrity of India—why has it urged the court to hear its side first before passing any orders? Are the national security and military reforms beyond the understanding of the judiciary that the Government first wants to make the Supreme Court understand the intricacies of the scheme? Whatever the case, here, the Government seems to be uncovering it all, unintentionally.
On the other side, Congress leader and Member Parliament Manish Tewari who is being termed as someone who observes the defense and military changes globally quite keenly—and also happens to be a member of the Parliamentary Group on Defence—holds different views on the Agneepath Scheme, contrary to what the stand of Congress party itself is. While the party is holding protests, seeking a rollback of the scheme, Tewari clearly is not looking at the country from within, rather, he seems to be comparing it with the US and China whose armies are quite different from what India has. Tewari might have a keen eye on the defense matters, but he seems to have drifted away on this point, making it all about the global trimming of militaries and ensuring technological advancements on the defense front. There must be some attractive force on the other side, pulling him in!
Tewari needs to understand that in a country like India where unemployment is a grave issue and is eating up the youth—who are the future of this country—the defense jobs are, apart from patriotic, and nationalist adventures—employment guarantee schemes. It is a country where the youth is ready to die for the country if he is assured of the financial wellbeing of his family. India is a country, where the political parties promise employment, not technological advancement, trimming down its army to deal with “future dangers,” during their election campaign, and that is what votes them to power—not what they do to hide their faults and inabilities.
