CPIML Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Friday appealed to the youth to intensify their agitation against the Agnipath scheme, but to do it peacefully to avoid a BJP-RSS trap.

“The BJP and the RSS are trying to spread anarchy to give a bad name to the agitation — their well-known way of justifying suppression of protests. Learn from the farmers’ agitation (of 2020-21), and victory is certain,” Bhattacharya said.

The yearlong farmer protest had stayed peaceful despite many provocations and forced the Narendra Modi government to revoke three new farm laws.

In Uttar Pradesh, police and the political leadership are already blaming the anti-Agnipath agitation on “anti-national elements”.

“The police are looking for our ‘leaders’. These people will never understand that this is a battle of every individual. We don’t need a leader to spontaneously react against the anti-employment and anti-youth decision of the Modi government,” an anti-Agnipath protester in Ballia told reporters.

Prashant Kumar, additional director-general of police (law and order), said: “We have learnt about the role of some dubious anti-national groups in today’s (Friday’s) protest against the recruitment scheme. We are probing. We appeal to family elders to stop their youths from joining the protest.”

The police were seen mercilessly beating protesters at many places in Uttar Pradesh.

Huge paramilitary teams were deployed across the state to prevent protests after this Friday’s prayers. The post-prayer protests remained peaceful.

Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao said the violent anti-Agnipath protests were “an eye-opener and an acute indicator of the magnitude of the unemployment crisis in the country.”