The Congress on Monday held demonstrations across the country in protest against the Agnipath scheme, declaring that the agitation would continue till the country’s youth got justice.

Congress leaders said the “satyagraha” against Agnipath was held at 3,500 places in different states.

Accusing the Narendra Modi government of weakening the armed forces, the party said in a statement: “The Indian National Congress stands with the youth in their demand for an immediate rollback of the Agnipath scheme. The government should provide security rather than insecurity to the lakhs of men and women who aspire to serve the nation by joining the armed forces. The government has itself admitted to a shocking 1,25,000 non-commissioned vacancies in armed forces.”

Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “The Prime Minister is making his friends ‘Daulat-veer’ by handing over the airports of the country for 50 years and making our youth ‘Agniveer’ by hiring them on a contractual job for four years. The Congress is today holding satyagraha against the Agnipath scheme. This satyagraha will not stop till the youth get justice.”

The party also demanded the release of students arrested for protesting against the scheme.

At a news conference, party spokesperson Mohan Prakash said: “We stand with the lakhs of ex-servicemen who are concerned about the scheme’s impact on the ethos, unit cohesion and combat effectiveness of the armed forces. Introducing differential training standards and discriminatory pay and allowances among our soldiers threatens to disturb long-established standards with no clear benefit. We are concerned that such gimmicks are being experimented with at a time of deteriorating global security and rising threats to our borders.”