The Congress today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using army jawans for political gains but turning a blind eye to their needs and demanded a probe into the mysterious death of jawan Roy Mathew.
Pointing to the fresh video of BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav questioning the Prime Minister on removing corruption from the system, Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said it shows the failure of the government in ordering a probe into substandard food served to jawans.
Army jawan Mathew was found dead after he featured in a video on the abuse of the 'Sahayak' (buddy) system in the military.
"We demand the government should order a fair probe that why Tej Bahadur and Roy Mathew were harassed and intimidated after they raised their concerns. We ask the government to order a fair probe into the death of Roy Mathew," he said.
"Indian National Congress strongly objects to any kind of politicisation of the Army - defence forces - but sadly the government of the day uses the Army only for its political gains and does not want to address their pain," he said.
Referring to the video, he said it reflects the "failure" of the government to address the concerns of the army jawans.
He alleged that for past two-and-a-half years, a trend has been seen that "this government is only addicted to praise and does not want to take any kind of criticism or questions".
Shergill said the video makes it amply clear that any person questioning the government and asking questions, criticises or asks about corruption in the system, "will be threatened, intimidated and humiliated or will go missing".
He said the Congress party asks the government and the Prime Minister specifically as to what is the fault of Tej Bahadur that he is being harassed on daily basis for simply asking the Prime Minister to remove corruption in the system.
"We demand from Rajnath Singh to come out with the probe which he promised after Tej Bahadur video surfaced. We demand to know from the Home Minister what he has done on complaints regarding food served to army jawans," he said.
"Today, it is a worrying trend when a wife of army jawan has to approach the Hon'ble High Court to find about the whereabouts of her husband. Is anybody safe in this country is the moot question we are asking," he said.
Shergill said the Prime Minister is busy campaigning in UP elections and he should "wake up" and hear concerns of army jawans. "Because when it comes to words, he fully uses the army jawans, when it comes to their concerns, he turns a blind eye," he said.
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The Congress leader alleged that the nation is paying a heavy price for "non-committal and non-serious" approach of the Prime Minister and his colleagues.
"PM Modi, we all know, is a trained 'Pracharak' but he is not a good administrator. When the army has to demand their well-deserved right for serving this nation but they are rewarded by humiliation and intimidation, it reflects on failure of Modi government," he said.
He pointed out that Tej Bahadur had raised serious concerns over food served in the forces and demanded healthy food and requested the Prime Minister for a fair probe.
"Rather than threatening and harassing him, the Home Minister and the PMO promised probe but it has been two months the government has done nothing and absolutely nothing to look into the allegation of the jawan and they are being mistreated and not being given proper treatment they deserve. It is very unfortunate," he said.
