‘U-Turn Government’: Congress Slams Centre’s Agniveer Tenure Extension

Congress on Wednesday hit out at the BJP-led government over the Agnipath scheme, describing the change as a political “U-turn” and tying the two-year extension in Agniveers’ service to repeated criticism from Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. “This government is a ‘U-turn’ government. First Rahul Gandhi says, they don’t agree to it. Later they correct,” Congress leader Pawan Khera said in a post on X.

Chief of defence staff General NS Raja Subramani announced on Wednesday that the Union cabinet has decided to give Agniveers an option to stay on for two more years after their four-year tenure and seek absorption into the armed forces at the end of that period. Under the revised arrangement, the 25 per cent who qualify for retention under the current scheme would still be considered for regular service, while the other 75 per cent would receive the extension.

At the end of the extra two years, those who want to remain can apply for regular enrolment, subject to “objective selection criteria”. The move comes just weeks before more than 18,300 Agniveers from the first batch were due to leave the armed forces by December 31.

Congress And SP Critique

Congress said the scheme would damage the armed forces and young recruits. In his X post, Khera asked what would happen to those who still did not get regular service after the extra tenure and said the government would ultimately have to withdraw the plan.

He added: “This is a significant departure from the original four-year exit arrangement. Shri @RahulGandhi has repeatedly warned that the Agniveer scheme is unsustainable and demanded that the government reconsider it,” Khera said.

The Samajwadi Party also raised questions. Samajwadi Party MP Shiv Pal Singh Patel questioned the revised tenure and said, “I am unable to understand what profit is gained by making it four years from six years? Just give them a job for 25-30 years straight, let them become full-time soldiers and serve the country.”

Patel also described the plan as a “deception” of young recruits. He said they should train for longer and be made regular soldiers.

BJP Defends Extension

The BJP supported the revision. It said the longer tenure would keep Agniveers in uniform for more time and give them another path to regular enrolment. Union defence minister Rajnath Singh thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision and called the added two years a “Second Tour of Duty”.

Singh said: “This would also provide enrollment of all willing Agniveers as regular soldiers after the tenure of 4/6 years, who meet the selection criteria. This decision is a continuation of long-term structural reforms of our defence forces, aimed at creating a younger, fitter, technologically equipped and future-ready military. It is not merely a recruitment policy; it is a way forward to prepare India’s military for the changing character of warfare,” the defence minister said.

His remarks framed the extension as part of a broader effort to reshape military recruitment. That response came as the opposition argued the revision itself showed the government had moved away from the original four-year exit model.