IANS-CVoter National Mood Tracker: Large number of Indians believe protests against Agnipath will die down slowly

New Delhi: The violent protests against the Agnipath scheme, announced by the Narendra Modi government appear to be subsiding with time. The Union government is trying to convince the aspirants about the benefits of the recruitment scheme that offers a four-year job in the Indian armed forces.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met Chiefs of the three services and took a briefing about their plan to implement the Agnipath scheme. The Central government announced the scheme on June 14 to recruit youngsters in the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force.

However, violent protests broke out in different states against the scheme. The ruling BJP and opposition hurled accusations at each other as the country witnessed horrific scenes of violence and arson by the protesters from several states.

While the opposition accused the BJP government of offering a job scheme to the youngsters without any financial and social security. The BJP attacked the opposition for instigating the youth against the scheme.

Undeterred by the protests and accusations made by the opposition, the government has decided to go ahead to implement the Agnipath scheme and start recruitment.

CVoter-IndiaTracker conducted a countrywide survey to know people’s views about the protests that erupted in the wake of announcement of the Agnipath scheme. During the survey, while 60 per cent of the respondents opined that the protests against the military recruitment scheme will die down slowly, 40 per cent of the respondents said that agitations against the scheme will intensify in coming days.

Interestingly, during the survey, while the majority of NDA voters — 74 per cent — said that the demonstrations will end in near future, opposition supporters were divided on the issue. Amongst the opposition voters, while 51 per cent believe that protests will intensify, 49 per cent think that the agitations against the scheme will end slowly.

The survey also revealed that the majority of urban and a large proportion of rural voters think that protests against the job scheme will end with time. According to the survey data, 64 per cent of urban voters and 58 per cent of rural voters opined that the agitations against the scheme will slowly end.

During the survey, while the majority of respondents in older age groups believe that the protests will slowly die down, youngsters appeared to be divided in their opinion on the issue. As per the survey data, 71 per cent of the respondents above 55 years of age and 66 per cent of those in the 45-54 years age group said that protests will slowly die down. At the same time, while 55 per cent of the respondents between 18-24 years of age believe that agitations will end slowly, 45 per cent respondents in this age bracket did not share the sentiment.

–IANS