The Congress on Monday reiterated that the Agnipath scheme was dangerous for the country and would weaken the Indian Army, a day after news emerged of an Agniveer dying in the line of duty at Siachen.

Responding to the fresh controversy over the desirability of the scheme, Congress ex-servicemen department’s chief Col. Rohit Chaudhary said: “The Narendra Modi government has created two classes of soldiers in the army. There are differences in service conditions, entitlement and honour as well. There is discrimination after martyrdom, too.”

Under the Agnipath scheme, soldiers are recruited for a short tenure of four years and they are not entitled to pension and gratuity benefits.

Chaudhary said: “This scheme is neither good for the country, nor the youth. The Indian Army’s strength is 14.25 lakh. As many as 75,000 retire every year. Against this vacancy, only 46,000 Agniveers will be recruited every year. After five years, the strength of the army will get reduced to 10 lakh only.”

The party’s ex-servicemen department has started holding public rallies against the Agnipath scheme, declaring that it is not acceptable at all.

The controversy erupted afresh after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted this message on the death of the Agniveer: “The martyrdom of Agniveer Gawate Akshay Laxman in Siachen is extremely saddening. My deepest condolences to the family. A young man sacrificed his life for the country — no gratuity and other facilities during service, after death, not even pension for the family. Agniveer is a scheme to insult India’s brave warriors.”

This instigated an acerbic retort from the BJP. Party IT cell chief Amit Malviya said: “Absolute trash and irresponsible tweet. Agniveer Gawate Akshay Laxman has laid down his life in course of service and therefore is entitled to emoluments as a Battle Casualty. Accordingly, Laxman’s Next of Kin will receive the ₹48 lakh non-contributory insurance, ex gratia of ₹44 lakh, Seva Nidhi contributed by the Agniveer (30%), with an equal matching contribution by the Govt, and interest thereon. The Next of Kin will also receive pay for the balance tenure from the date of death, till completion of four years (more than ₹13 lakh); as per balance residual tenure and contribution of ₹8 lakh from Armed Forces Battle Casualty Fund. So, stop peddling fake news. You are aspiring to be Prime Minister. Try and behave like one.”

Col Chaudhary asserted what Rahul said was true and said their apprehensions about the Agniveer scheme were coming true.

“After six months’ training, an Agniveer does not become a battle-hardened soldier to be deployed in extreme conditions like Siachen. He is not fit to cope with stress and other challenges. A soldier takes five-six years to become fit for all-weather deployment. I don’t want to comment on operation details as to why he was deployed in Siachen, but the policy guidelines themselves impose employability restrictions on an Agniveer.”

He said that an Agniveer was paid only Rs 21,000 a month and an amount of Rs 11 lakh is to be given following retirement after four years without pension, gratuity, medical and other facilities.

“The government has created divisions among soldiers.... You cannot command loyalty from the soldiers by not giving a commitment to look after his family after his death,” Col Chaudhary said.