Hours after former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated, the Opposition parties in India, especially the Congress, began casting aspersions on the newly launched Agnipath scheme using the tragic incident.
National Media Panelist of the Congress Party, Surendra Rajput, claimed the murder of Shinzo Abe was committed by a former member of the Japanese Self Defence Forces (SDF), and compared the SDF with the Agnipath scheme. He claimed that the SDF does not have a pension, thereby insinuating that those soldiers enrolled under the Agnipath scheme will be same as the soldiers working in the SDF.
Similar claims were made by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal through its mouthpiece ‘Jaago Bangla’ (Wake up Bengal). The newspaper carried an article titled, ‘Shinzo er khune Agnipath er chaya (Shadow of Agnipath in Shinzo Abe’s murder).’
#TMC mouthpiece draws parallels between #ShinzoAbe killing & India’s #Agneepath scheme, highlights killer of Abe was into short term defence service, worked for 3 years & then was unemployed without any pension.The title of the article reads “AGNEEPATH SHADOW OVER #ShinzoAbeShot” pic.twitter.com/2ycbJoo8Y5
— Tamal Saha (@Tamal0401) July 9, 2022
What is the Truth?
The assassin of ex-Japanese Shinzo Abe has been identified as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami. It is indeed true that Yamagami served in the Maritime Self-Defense Forces (MSDF) for a short period of 2 years and 9 months.
Having said that, his brief stint with the Navy was not recent and ended 15 years ago. The Opposition parties tried to suggest that the military training received by Yamagami, coupled with lack of work and pension benefits, made the assailant to take such a drastic step.
It must be pointed out that the same parties had earlier floated conspiracy theories about the ‘potential’ of Agniveers to turn into terrorists. They had claimed that a lack of job opportunities, post-retirement from the armed forces, will force the soldiers to indulge in anti-social activities.
While a similar aspersion was cast about the assassination of Shinzo Abe, it has come to light that his assassin Tetsuya Yamagami was not ‘jobless.’ He started working in the fall of 2020 at a manufacturing firm in the Kansai region on the Honshu island of Japan.
The assassin quit his job only in May this year, citing poor health. As per a report in CNN, the motive of the crime was not political and certainly nothing to do with his early retirement from the Navy. In fact, the probe has found that the motive of the murder was religious and the crime has nothing to do with his past association with SDF.
He harboured hatred toward a religious group and believed that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was linked to it.
“The man who fatally shot former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe told police that he initially planned to attack a leader of a religious group that he believed caused his mother to become bankrupted through donations, investigative sources said on Saturday,” read a report in South China Morning Post.
The assassin was under the impression that Abe promoted the group in Japan and therefore wanted to eliminate him. Yamagami dismissed claims of killing the former Prime Minister over ‘political beliefs.’
As such, it becomes clear that attempts to draw parallels to the Agnipath scheme and insinuate that lack of job opportunities, financial security and training in the use of weaponry contributed to the assassination of Shinzo Abe are dubious. Even though the SDF, which is the national military of Japan, does not have pension, it has nothing to do with the assassination.
The benefits of the Agnipath scheme
One of the grievances of the armed force aspirants is that only 25% of the Agniveers, recruited under the new scheme, will get the opportunity to continue for a full term. Many have also cried foul over the lack of pensionary benefits.
The early exit option for Agniveers will leave them with a SevaNidhi fund of ₹11.71 lakh and the ability to start a new career, and get priority selection in police services, government agencies, and PSUs.
Apart from that, Agniveers will also get a non-contributory Life Insurance Cover of Rs 48 lakh for the duration of their engagement period in the Indian Armed Forces. During the period of service, the recruits will learn various military skills, including discipline, physical fitness, leadership qualities, courage and patriotism.
Although around 25% of the recruited Agniveers will be enrolled in Armed Forces as regular cadres post the four-year service, all candidates can apply on a volunteer basis to enrol in the regular cadre.
In association with IGNOU, the Armed Forces will provide graduation degrees to Agniveers that will help them if they want to go for higher studies after completion of four years of service.
