What should be the basic quality of an aspiring soldier? He should love his country. That includes love towards public property and people.
We all know that the nation seeks the support of jawans to prevent agitators if any in order to safeguard the public property during some movements. But how does it sound if the aspiring jawans themselves burn trains and bring down the public property to ashes just on the demand for 'job security'.
An agitator (aspiring soldier) just after burning the train, says to the media in Secunderabad- "I have decided to serve the country being a soldier. I am ready to die for this country and a noble cause. How can the nation recruit us for five years of service and put a test again whether to continue us in the forces".
Well, if he is really ready to die for the nation, can't he sit on a hunger strike and sacrifice his life for the noble cause of all aspiring jawans in the country who are worried about Agnipath? How can he put up his demands by burning trains?
Keeping the soldiers' selection aside, during the selection process of officers in the Indian Army, a thorough psychological test is conducted. The readiness to face challenges, IQ and Emotional Quotient are assessed before allowing him to get into actual training. Only the right ones are picked here. Similar tests are not conducted while selecting the jawans. It seems to be the need of the hour to start this process for the selection of non commissioned ranks as well.
The train burning incident proves that these agitators lack the basic IQ. How can they get into this kind of violence just for the reason of job-insecurity and the provocation of some tutorial heads? These guys should sit in jail now and thus lose the opportunity to get any government job in future, if everything is properly recorded.
You may ask, when the aspiring jawans are part of democracy, can't they agitate for justice?
Yes, but there is a way for everything.
In this regard, a 76 year old war veteran shares his experience- "In 1971, during the war with Pakistan, the Indian Army announced the emergency recruitment of commissioned officers. Many youngsters joined the forces and served the nation in the time of war. But after some time they were relieved from the services. Not knowing what to do, the young officers who lost their jobs protested in a peaceful way. I still remember them marching on the left side of the Delhi roads, holding a placard to do justice for their service. They marched with mouths covered with masks and didn't even shout any slogans against the government. They didn't vandalize public property. They didn't even cause problems with the traffic on roads. They gained public sympathy and within no time, all those officers were absorbed into defense services and other government sectors in a responsible way. That spoke about the uniformed officers' true love for the country and its property. Had these young aspirants today protested in a similar peaceful manner, they would have really gained sympathy. Aspirants to join military forces need a lot of mental endurance along with physical strength to face the odds and challenges".
So, all the violent agitators against the Agnipath scheme deserve a permanent 'no entry' into defense and police services. Because, these sectors need the people who protect the public properties but not otherwise.
Trinath Kumar Paruchuri
