The Congress and the BJP made counterclaims in poll-bound Uttarakhand on Friday about how much the Narendra Modi government had done for the welfare of serving and former military personnel, whose support is crucial during any election in the hill state.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented the One Rank One Pension (Orop) scheme. It’s proof of the BJP’s priorities,” Union home minister Amit Shah said in Rudraprayag.
“The defence budget in 2013-14 was Rs 2 lakh crore but by 2021-22, we had increased it to Rs 4.78 lakh crore.”
Congress national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala contradicted Shah as he released a booklet, Sena Ke Hiton Par Chot (Attack on the interests of soldiers), at a news conference in Dehradun. The booklet accuses the Modi government of apathy towards serving and retired soldiers.
Surjewala claimed credit for Orop on behalf of the Congress-led UPA government.
“The UPA government increased the pension of former soldiers thrice between 2004 and 2012. The UPA government on February 17, 2014, approved the One Rank One Pension scheme with a view to implementing it with effect from April 1, 2014,” he said.
However, with a general election in April and May |2014, the scheme was not implemented on the UPA’s watch.
“The Modi government came out with a fresh scheme on November 7, 2015, and stripped about 30-40 per cent ex-servicemen of the benefits of Orop. The new order said that those who had taken voluntary retirement after April 1, 2014, would not be entitled to Orop,” Surjewala said.
Orop had been a longstanding demand from ex-servicemen seeking pension parity between those who had retired with the same rank and same length of service, irrespective of when they retired — with any future hikes for recent pensioners “automatically” passing on to their older peers.
Modi had during the 2014 election campaign promised to implement the demand. His government introduced Orop in 2015 but stipulated parity-restoring revisions every five years, disappointing the veterans who wanted annual revisions.
Surjewala also accused the Modi government of limiting defence personnel’s purchases from the Canteen Stores Department (CSD), which sell them everything from food grains and alcohol to cars at heavily subsidised rates.
According to new rules, Surjewala said, a member of the defence forces can buy only one car in their lifetime from the CSD and that too only after 10 years of service. Also, monthly purchases of everyday needs from the CSD have been limited to Rs 10,000, whereas it was unlimited in the past, he said.
“The defence ministry stated in Parliament on December 13, 2021, that there were 122,555 vacant posts in all three (defence) forces of the country, including about 10,000 (vacant) posts of officers,” Surjewala added.
Shah said: “The Narendra Modi government is committed to the welfare of defence personnel…. The youths of Uttarakhand are deployed on every border of the country. They are working in minus 45 degrees Celsius in one part of India and in scorching heat in another. I thank the people of Uttarakhand for protecting the country.”
He added: “When I went to pay tribute to General Bipin Rawat (the Chief of Defence Staff who was killed with his wife in a helicopter crash on December 8 last year), I didn’t see any regret on the faces of his family members. There was a sense of bravery everywhere….”
Shah had attended Rawat’s funeral in Bhopal, where his family now lives. Rawat’s ancestral village was Sainj in Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand.
Uttarakhand is home to over 170,000 ex-servicemen or their widows, and to more than four lakh serving defence personnel, a fact local people take pride in.
Political observers say the soldiers, ex-servicemen and their families can influence any election in the hill state, where Assembly polls are scheduled on February 14.
