And on Friday, Delhi Police had a direct confrontation with veterans who were protesting at Jantar Mantar, as they sought to clear out the area for Independence Day celebrations.
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Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Arvind Kejriwal came out in support of the ex-servicemen and slammed the police for trying to evict them from Jantar Mantar.
The Amethi MP denounced police action to evict protesters from Jantar Mantar earlier today.
After meeting them, the Congress vice president asked PM Modi to announce the final date as to when his NDA government will implement the OROP. As police and NDMC started clearing the protest hotspot, the ex-servicemen refused to go away and alleged that cops manhandled those protesting quietly.
In a big blow to the Narendra Modi government, the retired armed forces personnel have outrightly rejected the latest proposal on One Rank One Pension.
“This is an attempt to get rid of us as they don’t have an answer to our demands”, said Anil Kaul, a former colonel and spokesman for the United Front of Ex-Servicemen.
One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme has been a long-standing demand of almost three-million ex-servicemen and war widows in the country.
The former servicemen, a group of 50, have been protesting since the last two months to call attention to the issue and have been living out of two tents at Jantar Mantar.
The chiefs while referring to the protests which were now undertaken said that anything which denigrates or humiliates the veteran also hurts the self-esteem of the serving soldier, because he sees himself as tomorrow’s veteran.
The Narendra Modi government has been maintaining that it is committed to OROP, a key promise made during Lok Sabha polls. However, the ex-servicemen stayed adamant and did not leave the ground saying that they have had guarded the nation and cannot be a threat to its security.
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The military veterans say they will wait till August 15 and if the government does not honour their demands they will step up their protests by staging more hunger strikes around the country. The scheme ensures that a uniform pension is paid to defence personnel who retire at the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement. Currently, 25 former army men are demanding for OROP.
