Congress leader Manish Tewari on Saturday accused the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being insensitive to ex-servicemen concerns on the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.
"It is the 50th anniversary of the 1965 war heroes. People who had shed their blood during the 1965 war, are agitating fifty years later in this hot and humid atmosphere for their legitimate rights, and the government is least concerned," Tewari said.
He told ANI, "If there were no elections to be held in Bihar, the government would not have even cared, the agitation would have continued for one more year."
He further said, "The BJP feels their prospects in Bihar would be undermined, that is why, they are trying to extend an olive branch to the ex-servicemen."
"But, the fact is, they have treated ex-servicemen in the most cavalier manner. This is not the way in which people who have shed blood for the country need to be dealt with, or treated by the country." he added.
The One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme has been a long-standing demand of nearly three-million ex-servicemen and war widows in the country. It seeks to ensure 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.