The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hopeful that the Centre’s decision to extend the tenure of Agniveers by two more years will help counter criticism of the contentious scheme in states heading for assembly elections next year, particularly those with a high number of armed forces recruits, party leaders said.
Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which will go to the polls early next year, and Himachal Pradesh , where elections are due later in 2027, are among the states that contribute significantly to military recruitment. “The Opposition managed to make Agnipath a key political issue in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. In Haryana, the party lost five of the 10 seats it had won in 2019, while it failed to win any seat in Punjab. Its tally also fell in Rajasthan, from 24 to 14, and in Uttar Pradesh, from 62 to 33. To be sure, Agnipath was only one of the factors in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the BJP successfully reversed its poor showing just months later, winning the Haryana assembly elections.
In several states such as Haryana, Rajasthan and UP, the Opposition’s narrative against the scheme and the fear they stoked about changes being made to the Constitution had huge traction and the BJP’s margins and seats came down…” said a senior party functionary, who did not wish to be named.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, had called for scrapping Agnipath scheme and restoring the earlier recruitment system, which offered longer tenures, medical benefits and pensions.
