‘It is a do or die situation for us,’ say Army aspirants

Army aspirants in Nawada, Bihar, say the Centre has with one stroke crushed all their dreams

Under a huge banyan tree on a village ground in Nawada district, Sahil Kumar, 20, is one among the 30 Army aspirants mulling over the uncertain future that lies ahead of them ever since the Union Government announced the ‘Agnipath’ scheme for recruitment of soldiers into the armed forces.

“Life is meaningless now,” he murmurs while lowering his head and fighting back tears. For the past two-and-a-half years, he has been preparing for a job in the Army, running five km on the ground in the morning and four km on a nearby dry riverbed in the evening, every day. Being the only son of an agriculturist, Sahil says his father had big dreams for him and wanted to see him as an Army man. He too was working very hard, planning to marry off his two younger sisters as an Army man. “But this government has crushed all my dreams with one stroke, I’ve lost sleep, lost interest in life,” he says. His friends, who appear equally disheartened, try to console him, pat his back and chant in chorus, “Either the government withdraws the Agnipath scheme, or we all will withdraw from life.”

Also read | Bandh against Agnipath hits normal life in some parts of country

Over 100 Army job aspirants from over a dozen surrounding villages practise every day at the village ground chasing their dream job.

Nawada is the first district in Bihar where protesters set the local BJP office on fire and attacked the local BJP MLA Aruna Devi’s vehicle on June 16. Thousands of students preparing for the Army job and living in lodges in Nawada town had come out on the streets against the Agnipath scheme. They vented their ire on the local BJP office located on the outskirts of the town, ransacking the three-storey building and setting it ablaze. Even after three days, when The Hindu reached the party office on June 19, broken plastic chairs, tables, switch boards, burnt files, posters of party leaders and other furniture were lying strewn around.

In a corner of the ransacked meeting hall on the first floor of the office, a poster of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a victory sign says, “Azadi ke baad, pehli baar... kada parishram, bade parinaam (First time, after Independence…hard labour, big result).

“Luckily, there was no one in the office at that time, otherwise the protesters might have killed them. I reached here seeing columns of smoke billowing into the sky and informed the police and party leaders about the incident,” said local BJP leader Vinay Kumar. Now, three security personnel have been posted at the BJP office, which is without electricity, water, sanitation and other facilities.