New Delhi: Violence continued to dominate the protest movement even on the fourth day after the central government announced contractual short-term recruitment in the armed forces – Agnipath on Tuesday. Reports trickling in from different parts of the country showed agitated youths blocking roads and protesting demanding the rollback of the newly announced military recruitment scheme on Saturday.
Protests rock Bihar
The protesters on Saturday torched a bus and a truck in the Jehanabad district of Bihar. There were also reports that an unruly mob looted shops at Jehanabad railway station and disrupted the movement of vehicular traffic in the district. Police informed that the protestors also attacked an ambulance carrying an injured passenger in the Arwal district. Masaurhi, located in the Patna district, meanwhile saw intense demonstrations in the latter part of the day as protesting aspirants set police vehicles on fire.
This caused cops to resort to lathi-charge and aerial firing to disperse crowds. More than 50 rounds of bullets were fired in the process. The involvement of student-youth outfits only seemed to get stronger with the passing of time, as organizations such as AISA-INOS, Rozgar Sangharsh United Front, and Army Recruitment Jawan Morcha started their demonstrations in various parts of Patna on Saturday. Various students' union organizations affiliated with Left parties, including RJD and Vikasheel Insan Party (VIP), have come forward to support the movement. The agitators have also issued threats that delay in taking back the Agniveer scheme by the Central government will further intensify the movement.
Also read: Amid protests over Agnipath Scheme, Rajnath Singh holds meeting with Navy, IAF chief
Criticizing the Agnipath, short service recruitment in the Army, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, in a Tweet stated that "The Central government must take back the Agnipath scheme immediately. BJP's pro-capitalist approach and anti-youth policy have increased unemployment in the country. Is this government (read BJP) being helped by contractors, that's why they are subletting the Army jobs on a contractual basis."
Previously, the leader of the opposition, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav had tweeted whether these Army recruits would be given 90 days of sanctioned leave. If the recruitment policy is fair, then why are officers not appointed on a contractual basis? Why only soldiers will be recruited on a contract basis. Was this MGNREGA for educated unemployed youths?
400 arrested in Uttar Pradesh
Mass registration of cases was witnessed against protestors in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district on Saturday. More than 400 cases were filed against unknown persons in connection with the protests, police informed. "Based on the complaint lodged by the station master of Ballia railway station, a case was registered at 3.30 am against 400 unknown persons under the Railway Act, IPC and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act."
"The 109 arrested persons were presented at the court of the city magistrate, who sent them to 14 days of judicial custody," Circle Officer Priti Tripathi said. This came after protestors had earlier set a rail coach on fire in Ballia station, having also torched buses and police outposts before cops fired teargas at them to disperse the crowd. A bus, traveling from Lucknow to Varanasi, was also set on fire by protestors in the Jaunpur district of the state.
Himachal Pradesh
Meanwhile, Congress joined in on the demonstrations in Shimla on Friday, as Youth Congress workers took out a symbolic funeral procession against the Centre's scheme. The protest started at the Himachal Pradesh assembly premises and went on till Shimla's CTO area, after which the workers were stopped by security forces when they tried to breach Section 144 and tried to enter Mall Road. The ensuing scuffle saw workers burning the effigy in the middle of the road. Several leaders including Congress election campaign committee chairman Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, working president Harsh Mahajan, Congress MLAs Vikramaditya Singh, and Anirudh Singh participated in the protest.
Train services interrupted in West Bengal
Train services were interrupted in the state's Malda division as well as in the Barrackpore railway station area on Saturday. Protestors blocked the train track as several of them did push-ups on the track at the latter location. The protests started at around 9 am in the morning. The deadlock continued for at least one-and-a-half hours. Seven Express and Mail trains in total were canceled in Eastern Railway's Malda Division, as informed in the morning by Malda Division Manager Yatindra Kumar.
Protest in Punjab:
Though the tone of the protest movement across the nation mellowed down a little as the youths took to the streets in protest against the Union government's Agneepath scheme on Saturday, scores of youths were shouting slogans against the Central government. Some of the protesting youths said that they were preparing for the Army recruitment test for a long time and this time around we were confident that they would make it to the Armed forces. But, the implementation of the Agneepath scheme by the Central government has dashed our hopes.
In Ludhiana, more than two dozen youths barged into the Ludhiana railway station. They broke the window panes of the offices of the railway officials. Panic-stricken passengers on the platform started fleeing from the spot. Thereafter, RPF and GRP resorted to baton-charge forcing the protesters to leave the spot. Protesters also pelted stones at the policemen. Four persons were arrested by the police. At least 17 trains have been canceled so far. The agitators also blocked the PAP Chowk at Ludhiana leading to a huge snarl-up of vehicles.
Situation in Hyderabad:
Train services at Secunderabad Railway Station, which witnessed arson and violence resulting in the death of a protester aspiring to join the armed forces on Friday, are limping back to normalcy, a senior official of the South Central Railway said on Saturday.
D Rakesh, a 24-year-old Army aspirant from Warangal district, died and several people were injured after security personnel opened fire on hundreds of agitators at the Secunderabad railway station here on Friday as the protests against the Centre's new Agnipath military recruitment scheme escalated into large-scale violence and arson.
Also read: Train stations, highways turn into battleground as youth fury over 'Agnipath' singes nation
"Situation is normal at the station. We saw some problems at Mahbubnagar railway station. Overall, railway stations in Telangana are fine," the police officer said. A senior South Central Railway official said train services resumed from the station at 8 pm on Friday and are normal now. He said security was stepped up in and around the station and passengers with valid tickets are only allowed to enter the station premises.
Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Friday announced Rs 25 lakh ex-gratia to kin of the youth who was allegedly killed in the Railway police firing while participating in a dharna against the Agnipath army recruitment scheme recently introduced by the Central government.
Taking to Twitter, Telangana CMO said, "CM extended his deepest condolences to the family of Rakesh, who was victimized by the center's misguided policies. Rakesh's family will be given Rs 25 lakh compensation and those eligible in the family will be given government jobs as per their eligibility." Expressing shock and grief over the death of Rakesh, who hailed from Warangal, the chief minister expressed condolences to his bereaved family members.
Protest in Chennai and Karnataka:
Several trains were either fully or partially canceled in the region due to the protest against the Centre's 'Agnipath' scheme for recruitment in the defense services, Southern Railway said on Friday.
Accordingly, the Thiruvananthapuram-Secunderabad Sabari Express is fully canceled, while Mysore-Darbhanga Bagmati Express, Ernakulam-Barauni Rapti Sagar Express, and Bengaluru Danapur Sanghamitra Express were partially canceled, the Southern Railway said in a press release.
Due to the agitation in South Central Railway and East Coast Railway Hyderabad zones- Dr. MGR Chennai Central Express, Hyderabad Tambaram-Charminar Express, Bengaluru-Danapur Express, MGR Chennai Central-Hyderabad Express, and Tambaram-Hyderabad Charminar Express stand canceled on June 18, while Ernakulam-Patna Bi-weekly Superfast Express stands canceled on June 20, the release said.
More than 300 youths were protesting against the Agnipath scheme near the War Memorial at the Tamil Nadu Secretariat, Chennai. Army aspirants from several districts, including Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, and Tiruppur, gathered at the spot and raised slogans against the Union government.
A heated argument broke out between police and protesters staging a sit-in at Dharwad in Karnataka against the Central government's Agnipath scheme. Police resorted to mild lathi-charge to quell the mob. Scores of youths assembled at Naika Adda Circle in Dharwad as policemen were deployed as precautionary steps. Additional DC arrived at the demonstration site and appealed to protestors to drop the agitation.
Rajasthan:
There was a strong protest in the Alwar district in Rajasthan against Agnipath where youths blocked the New Delhi-Jaipur highway. There was also a demonstration at Behror where a huge number of police and youths were present. The youths burned tyres and the law and order situation was getting out of control. Huge queues of vehicles spreading over several kilometers were seen on the highway.
