Asian Tribune Your Multilingual Newspaper covering World and local news News
New Delhi: Taking the fight to a new level, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Friday, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying about the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.
Addressing the media after meeting some protesting ex-servicemen in Delhi, the Congress leader said, “What Prime Minister is calling OROP, it is actually only pension enhancement and not OROP, so Modi ji please stop lying and implement OROP.”
Rahul Gandhi, who has taken an aggressive stance against the Modi government over OROP and the alleged suicide of ex-Army veteran Ram Kishan Grewal said, “The OROP is not about money, but it’s about the dignity of our soldiers, about justice for our soldiers.”
“PM Modi is saying OROP has been implemented, if that was the case, then why so many ex-servicemen are protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar for the last 509 days,” Rahul exhorted.
Rahul asked the Centre to fulfil the promise of UPA government and implement OROP at the earliest, saying it is the right of the armed forces, who have devoted their life to the country.
The suicide by an Army veteran over OROP has snowballed into a huge political show with Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other opposition leaders attacking the Modi government on the issue.
In the last two days the Congress MP was detained thrice to prevent him from leading a protest march over the suicide of an ex- serviceman, allegedly due to his grievances in implementation of OROP.
In an apparent bid to politicise the issue, Rahul and Kejriwal visited Haryana’s Bhiwani to attend Grewal’s funeral on Thursday.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Thursday, said around one lakh ex-military personnnel are yet to get full benefit of OROP.
Commenting on the contentious issue, Parrikar admitted that there was some technical issue in full implementation of OROP, adding that it will be soon sorted out.
Also Read – One lakh ex-servicemen facing OROP problems, will be resolved within 2 months: Parrikar
“Only one lakh ex-servicemen (out of over 20 lakh) are not getting pension as per OROP scheme due to some technical difficulty or documentation problems. We will resolve these problems in coming two months,” he said addressing
Grewal was cremated in Bamla village in Haryana’s Bhiwani distric in the presence of hundreds of people including Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal.
A former Rajputana Rifles subedar, the 70-year-old allegedly consumed poison at a Delhi park on Tuesday evening demanding the immediate implementation of the OROP scheme.
