OROP KRANTI :: PARIKAR MOVES DESW INTO "FUP" TO LAUNCH BLITZKRIEG ON JANTAR MANTAR

SOURCE ::http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Parrikar-to-Launch-Media-Blitzkrieg-against-Protesting-Veterans/2015/11/27/article3148883.ece

Parrikar to Launch Media Blitzkrieg against Protesting Veterans

                                By 

                                                      Pradip R Sagar

27th November 2015

 The Defence Ministry will 

launch a publicity blitzkrieg to counter the 

“negative propaganda” on the One Rank, 

One Pension scheme.

The ministry feels that despite agreeing to 

a majority of the demands of the veterans 

and resolving the four-decade-old issue, a 

section of the defence personnel are 

continuing their agitation to discredit the 

government.

According to sources, the department of 

ex-servicemen’s welfare has been directed by the ministry to come out with detailed advertisements, explaining each and every issue of the OROP scheme, in all newspapers, including vernaculars, which was notified by the government early this month.

An awareness campaign will also be 

launched keeping in view the forthcoming 

Assembly elections in states like Punjab 

and Uttar Pradesh, which has a large 

population of defence personnel.

On the issue of OROP, both the 

government and the veterans have come 

out against each other and the latter even 

burnt their medals in protest recently, 

forcing Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to publicly denounce their action and assert that all their demands cannot be met.

Parrikar has repeatedly said in public that 

the behaviour of the ex-servicemen, 

protesting the notification on OROP 

scheme, was “unlike that of a soldier” and 

that they had been misguided.

Parrikar has also gone ahead to say that 

medals were a recognition of the nation 

for the sacrifices of the armed forces and 

as such, burning or returning them was an insult to the nation and the defence forces. The government also feels that veterans’ protest has political linkages. “It is very disturbing that a section of the veterans are spreading misinformation on OROP despite the government paying over `8,000 crore annually to settle the four-decade-long demand of defence personnel. Some clarity is required to counter the misinformation campaign,” said an official of the department.

The issue of veterans has now become a 

political weapon as various opposition 

parties have come out in support of the 

protesting veterans. The Congress has 

accused the government of practising 

“politics of deception”  and AAP leader 

and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal 

called the OROP notification a farce and 

claimed it was not in the right spirit.

Alleging there are ‘seven pitfalls’ in the 

government’s notification of the OROP, a 

section of the veterans  are also 

considering legal options, including a 

petition in the Supreme Court  challenging the notification as they claim to have lost faith in the government.