Akhilesh Yadav, the national president of the Samajwadi Party (SP), announced on July 27 that his party will cancel the Agnipath recruitment scheme “as soon as we come to power.” This statement followed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s recent declaration of reservation for retired Agniveers in the U.P. Police.
Yadav emphasized on X (formerly Twitter), “As soon as we come to power, the short-term ‘Agniveer’ military recruitment that compromises the security of the country and plays with the future of the soldiers will be cancelled within 24 hours. This is our demand on ‘Agniveer’. Old recruitment should be reinstated.”
Adityanath’s announcement on July 26 stated that the State government intends to give weightage to retired Agniveers in the recruitment processes for the State police and the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC). Throughout his campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, Yadav has consistently pledged to dismantle the Agnipath scheme, which recruits youths into the Army, Navy, and Air Force on a four-year contractual basis, designating these recruits as Agniveers.
Launched by the Union Government in 2022, the Agnipath scheme has faced criticism for bypassing numerous traditional components of military recruitment, including longer tenures and the provision of pensions and other benefits that were standard in prior recruitment methods.
