Kolkata: Terming the Centre's new armed forces recruitment scheme Agnipath as a big scam, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee urged the BJP not to befool the countrymen, particularly the youths.
She was addressing a convention of Trinamool workers in West Burdwan on Tuesday afternoon.
Banerjee alleged that most of those who will get a job under the Agnipath scheme would be "members of their (BJP) frontal organisation". She further alleged that once the Lok Sabha elections are over in 2024, BJP would forget everything and the Agniveers would face problems in getting employment elsewhere.
She asked the gathering "have you received Rs 15 lakh in your bank account as was promised by the Prime Minister before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls". Stating that all the schemes of the BJP were a mockery, she said: "The Ujjwala gas connection has also vanished. Agnipath is one such joke and once the Lok Sabha elections are over, the BJP will forget everything."
Banerjee further alleged that the Centre had written letters to every state government that a portal containing the names of the Agniveers would be created and they should be given priority while giving jobs. "Why should we take BJP's sin? Why should we clean their waste bin," she asked.
Banerjee said the youths who are residents of the state would be given priority for jobs. She demanded that the Agniveers who are inducted into the Army should retire at the age of 60. "Is it not a joke that the youths are given jobs for four years only," she remarked.
The Trinamool chairperson added that the Centre had brought in Army officials as a face-saving measure.
"Unable to face the youths who had been demonstrating all over the country, the Centre roped in Army officials to explain the scheme," Banerjee stated.
Criticising the double standards of the BJP government, she said: "On one hand, the Centre is not filling up 60,000 vacancies in Railways and now has promised to give jobs to 60,000 youths under Agnipath scheme. The sole business of the BJP is to confuse people."