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