Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday accused the Modi government of “hiding critical data” on the vacancies in the armed forces and asked if it was afraid that this information would further put a question mark on the Agnipath military recruitment scheme.
Kharge shared on X a question in the Rajya Sabha on Monday in which it was asked as to whether the government has taken note of the fact that there is shortage of staff including officers, soldiers, medical officers etc., in the armed forces, and if so, the details thereof.
In his written reply, Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth had said, “The information sought is a sensitive operational matter concerning national security and it would not be in the national security interest to divulge related details in the public domain.” Sharing the screenshot of the question and answer, Kharge said, “Narendra Modi ji, Your inept government has now started brazenly misleading the nation and undermining institutions by hiding critical data on the vacancies in Armed Forces.” “Fake Nationalists of the BJP who imposed the Agnipath Scheme on our patriotic youth, and destroyed their future, have now refused to put this key information in the public domain,” he said.
Kharge said the Modi government has been publishing this important information on the number of vacancies of officers, soldiers, JCOs and medical officers, from time to time, for the past few years.
“We fail to understand, why suddenly you have refused to provide it now. Are you afraid that this information on the number of vacancies will further put a question mark on the ill-thought Agniveer induction which you have unilaterally imposed on the Armed Forces?” the Congress chief said.
As per latest figures provided by the Modi government in March 2023, over 1.55 lakh posts are vacant in the armed forces, Kharge said.
“National Security is paramount for the Indian National Congress, and real national interest demands that the actual number of vacancies in the Armed Forces be made public, so that comprehensive measures are taken to fill in those vacancies to protect the territorial integrity of the nation,” the Congress chief said.
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