By Shankar Raj*
Bengaluru: Will Agniveers recruited under the ‘Agnipath‘ scheme become a parallel army under the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after their four-year stint in the armed forces? That is what former Karnataka Chief Minister Haradanahalli Devegowda Kumaraswamy fears.
In a statement, he said that the ‘Agnipath’ scheme is actually a hidden agenda by the Rashtriay Swayamsevak Sangh. “The Agniveers would become Sangh workers inside the Army and outside as well, even after their service ends,” he said.
“Will RSS leaders recruit them or the army? Now the 10 lakh people who will be recruited, maybe they could push RSS karyakartas into the army. They may set up 2.5 lakh RSS workers in the army and their hidden agenda is that the 75% who will be sent out with 11 lakh rupees will spread across the country. Those inside and outside will belong to the RSS, they’re planning for an RSS takeover of the army,” he said.
Recalling that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was founded during the time of Hitler’s Nazi rule in Germany, he said: “Maybe they want to implement that (Nazi rule) in our country, for which they’ve created ‘Agnipath’ or Anginveer. There are a lot more things to be debated, I’ve some doubts regarding this.”
He claimed that the Sangh was trying to bring a “nazi movement” to India. “The 2.5 lakh people who are retained in ‘Agnipath’, they’ll be RSS workers then. It’s an RSS hidden agenda, and the remaining 75% who are sent out after 4 years will be spread to the rest of India. If they are also RSS, on one side RSS wants to take over control of the Army,” said Kumaraswamy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party National spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla slammed HDK saying “This is a shocking and disgusting comment. It is not aimed at the RSS or BJP, but at the army and the armed forces. If the institutions were going to be compromised, there would be no need for another team.”
“Will the armed forces of this country allow their institutions to be compromised in such a way? These are the same people who questioned the surgical strikes and the 2019 Balakot airstrike,” he said.
“What Kumaraswamy has said is a direct insult to the armed forces and the institutions of this country,” Poonawalla added.
*Shankar Raj is former Editor of The New Indian Express, Karnataka and Kerala, and writes regularly on current affairs.
