Army aspirants stage protest outside Kangra Airport ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s Dharamshala visit

A large number of Army aspirants on Thursday staged a protest at the Gaggal Airport in Kangra district before Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed for his visit to Dharamshala.

The protesters were, however, dispersed from the site after the state police resorted to lathi-charge after exchange of heated arguments. Up in arms against the ‘Agnipath’ scheme of the Union Government, the locals and the Congress party workers also joined the protesters and raised anti-Modi and anti-BJP slogans.

District youth president Pankaj who also joined the protests, alleged that the authorities used police force against the Army aspirants protesting peacefully.

After government departments, now the union government has done away with the regular recruitment in the defence forces too, the agitators lamented.

Resentment against the Modi government was quite evident in Kangra district where huge hoardings and banners, with pictures of PM Narendra Modi and state CM Jai Ram Thakur, erected along roadsides at various places were ripped apart and tossed down by people ahead of Narendra Modi’s visit.

Kangra is a district where joining Indian armed forces has become a tradition. A large number of families, from generations, have donned the uniform. There are over one lakh serving and ex-servicemen in Kangra district alone.

Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Pratibha Singh led a massive protest outside the Raj Bhawan in Shimla. The protesting Congress leaders and workers also broke the road barricades and indulged in arguments with the police force deployed there.

Dharnas and protests were reported from various places from across the state where people, especially youngsters raised anti-Modi slogans and flayed the union government for coming up with the ‘Agnipath’ scheme.