DW BUREAU /Rohtak (Hry) Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda claimed on Monday that the Agnipath scheme for military recruitment will weaken the Army and reduce its numbers. He said Haryana would be among the states that would be hit the hardest by the scheme. Addressing a protest organised by the Congress here against the Agnipath scheme, Hooda said when the country achieved independence, it had four lakh soldiers, which increased to 14 lakh in the last 70 years. "Two lakh posts are vacant due to non-recruitment in the Army for three years. The government should have ensured recruitment on the vacant posts but instead, it is doing this (introducing the Agnipath scheme). It has come up with a plan to play with the future of the youngsters," he said, according to a statement. The former Haryana chief minister claimed that if the scheme is implemented, it will gradually bring down the strength of the Army. "This will have a very bad impact, especially on Haryana. Till now, 5,000-7,000 youngsters were recruited in the Army every year from Haryana. If there was regular recruitment for three years, about 20,000 youngsters would have been recruited. But now, only 963 'Agniveers' will be admitted under the Agnipath scheme and 75 per cent of them, who will not be absorbed, will be pushed into unemployment after four years," he said. Protests against the Agnipath scheme were held by Congress leaders and workers in other parts of the state as well. The opposition party had announced that it will stage a "satyagraha" across all the Assembly constituencies in the country on Monday, demanding the withdrawal of the "Tughlaqi" (whimsical) decision to roll out the Agnipath scheme. Addressing a gathering in Rewari, party leader Deepender Singh Hooda said the Centre should immediately withdraw the scheme as "it is not in the national interest". "The BJP, which raised the 'One Rank, One Pension' slogan from the 'veer bhoomi' of Rewari (in September 2013), gathered the votes of the jawans at the time of elections and then betrayed the youngsters as soon as they came to power at the Centre and brought the 'No Rank, No Pension' Agnipath scheme. "The BJP government should not take any step that will ruin the future of the youngsters and weaken the country's Army," he said. The Congress leader claimed that just as the Centre withdrew three contentious farm laws "by apologising to the farmers, it would also have to roll back the Agnipath scheme by apologising to the youngsters". "The Congress will strongly oppose every step from the streets to Parliament that weakens the Army and shatters the dreams of youngsters," he said. (editor@dailyworld.in)