India: Mobs Burn Ruling Party Offices to Protest Military Recruitment Plan

Mobs of angry young men set fire to two offices of India’s ruling party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in eastern India’s Bihar state this week as part of nationwide protests against New Delhi’s recent decision to alter the guidelines of traditional military recruitment in the country, India Today reported on Friday.

“The situation in Bihar continues to be tense as violent protests over the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme continue on Day 2 [of protests] and now the second BJP office has been set afire in Madhepura. On Thursday [June 16], a BJP office was set ablaze in Nawada,” the news magazine reported on June 17.

Both Madhepura and Nawada are cities located in Bihar state, which borders Nepal. Mobs across India have launched violent attacks on local infrastructure and public buildings — including setting fire to railway offices, empty train carriages, police stations, and police vehicles — since June 14 to express outrage over Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to change the terms of India’s military hiring policy that day. Prime Minister Modi serves as the parliamentary chairman of India’s BJP.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh announced reforms to the nation’s military recruitment policy on June 14. The new plan — known as “Agnipath,” or “Path of Fire” in Hindi — aims to shorten the length of general military careers. Successful candidates for India’s military between the ages of 17.5 and 21 years “will join the armed services for a period of four years, after which only 25% of them will be retained,” the BBC reported on Friday.

Young Indian men have railed against the new policy, arguing that it will “reduce their chances of getting coveted permanent military jobs, which guarantee fixed salaries and pensions,” the British broadcaster observed separately on June 17.

“In a bid to pacify protesters, the federal government announced late on Thursday night [June 16] that — just for this year — candidates aged up to 23 years could apply under the scheme,” the BBC noted.

Despite the concession, violent protests and riots continued in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state on June 17, the Times of India reported.

“At least 100 people were detained in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia after youth protesting against the Agnipath scheme set an empty train coach on fire at the local railway station on Friday,” according to the newspaper.

“Police resorted to lathicharge [baton charge] to control the rampaging youth  […] The protest spread to a number of other [Uttar Pradesh] districts […] as protesting youth set ablaze a part of Jattari police outpost and a vehicle inside the outpost premises in Aligarh [sic],” the Times of India observed.