Oppn defaming Army via malicious allegations, misinformation campaign: BJP

New Delhi, July 19 (IANS) After Defence Minister Rajnath Singh clarified that the 'Agniveer' recruitment process is the same as it was before independence, the BJP blamed the opposition parties for malicious allegations and misinformation campaigns to defame the Indian army.

Hitting out at the opposition, the BJP said the Narendra Modi government has changed nothing. Former union minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said that opposition parties are defaming the Indian army via malicious allegations and a misinformation campaign. "Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has clarified that the 'Agniveer' recruitment process is the same as it was since pre-independence. Opposition parties are defaming the Indian army via malicious allegations and misinformation campaigns. Their bankrupt politics is exposed yet again," Javadekar said.

Rejecting the opposition allegations that caste certificates are being asked from aspirants who want to join the Army through the new 'Agnipath' scheme, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the practice has been in existence since before independence and no change has been made in the registration criteria.

Earlier in the day, AAP's Rajya Sabha Member Sanjay Singh posted on social media that the union government was asking for caste and religious certificates to register for the Agnipath scheme.

Reacting to Singh's social media post, BJP Lok Sabha Member from North East Delhi Manoj Tiwari asked, "Is it compulsory to be dumb to be in AAP? There is so much hatred for Modi that these opponents are misleading the country by tweeting false news. When are you apologizing for writing 'for first time in the history of India'," Tiwari said.

Quoting the AAP leader's tweet, national in-charge of the BJP Information and Technology Department Amit Malviya said, "The Army, in an affidavit filed before the SC in 2013, has made it clear that it does not recruit on the basis of caste, region and religion. It however justified grouping of people coming from a region in a regiment for administrative convenience and operational requirements."

"This obsession to blame PM Modi for everything means the likes of Sanjay Singh put their foot in their mouth every day. The Army's regiment system has existed right from the British era. Post independence, it was formalised in 1949, through a Special Army Order. Modi Govt has changed nothing," Malviya added.