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The prime minister laid a floral wreath at the Drass War Memorial to pay tributes to officers and soldiers of the armed forces who made the supreme sacrifice in service of the nation.
PM Modi rejects claims that the Agnipath Scheme aims to save pension funds. On Kargil Vijay Diwas, he pays tribute to war martyrs and defends Army reforms
In an apparent rebuke of Opposition parties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Kargil Vijay Diwas rejected the claims that the Aginpath Scheme is intended to save pension funds for Indian armed forces. Speaking at the commemoration of Kargil Vijay Diwas here, Modi defended the scheme as a necessary reform to modernise and strengthen the country’s Army.
On Friday, the Prime Minister paid homage to the Kargil war martyrs to mark the 25th anniversary of India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1999 war. During his speech, the PM also condemned the politicisation of national security issues, attributing past weaknesses in the Army to financial misconduct by the previous government.
#WATCH | PM Narendra Modi says, “…Agnipath scheme is also an example of the necessary reforms done by the Army…Some people used to think that the Army means saluting politicians, doing parades but for us, Army means the faith of 140 crore countrymen. The goal of Agnipath is… pic.twitter.com/oF3ZV7Fnp8— ANI (@ANI) July 26, 2024
‘Agnipath scheme’
“Agnipath scheme is also an example of the necessary reforms done by the Army…Some people used to think that the Army means saluting politicians, doing parades but for us, Army means the faith of 140 crore countrymen,” he said. PM Modi said that decisions on pension matters would naturally be handled by future governments and stressed that the NDA government is focused on honoring the armed forces’ decisions rather than engaging in political disputes.
Without naming anyone, Modi criticised those who have misled the public about the Agnipath scheme and accused them of not caring about soldiers. He recalled that these critics had previously made false promises about implementing the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme with a 500 crore rupee pledge.
He asserted that it is his government that successfully implemented OROP, providing over 1.25 lakh crore rupees to retired soldiers. “The goal of Agnipath is to make the Army young, to keep the Army continuously fit for war. Unfortunately, some people have made such a sensitive issue related to national security a subject of politics. These are the same people who weakened our Army by committing scams worth thousands of crores in the Army,” he added.
The prime minister laid a floral wreath at the Drass War Memorial to pay tributes to officers and soldiers of the armed forces who made the supreme sacrifice in service of the nation. On July 26, 1999, the Indian Army announced the successful culmination of “Operation Vijay”, declaring victory after a nearly three-month-long battle on the icy heights of Kargil in Ladakh. The day is observed as ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas’ to commemorate India’s victory over Pakistan in the war.
