Will launch protest if tax on soldiers’ disability pension not rolled back: Congress

The Congress on Wednesday warned of launching protests if the government does not withdraw by the end of this month its reported proposal to bring disability pension for soldiers within the ambit of income tax.

Retired Colonel Rohit Chaudhry, chairman of the party’s ex-servicemen department, said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will raise the issue at the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence on 19 February. Gandhi is a member of the panel, which is scheduled to examine the Ministry of Defence’s demands for grants for the year 2026-27.

“The Modi government says that only the disability pensions of soldiers who are out of service due to war injuries will be exempted from income tax. At the same time, the disability pension of soldiers who continue to serve in the army despite being injured will not be exempt from tax,” Chaudhry said at a press conference.

A group of ex-servicemen had met Gandhi over the issue on 9 February, the party said.

The Congress leader further alleged that a 2023 Supreme Court ruling had barred the government from taxing disability pensions. “The Modi government introduced a new disability policy in 2023 and stated that disability pension will now be called ‘Impairments Relief’. As soon as the government changed the name, disability pension automatically came under the income tax net. In this way, the government has trampled on the dignity of soldiers,” he claimed.

“There are approximately 200,000 disabled soldiers in our country. The Modi government is playing with the honour and dignity of the country's soldiers just to save an expenditure of Rs 125 crore,” he said.

Chaudhry outlined the party’s demands, stating, “We demand that the government withdraw the decision to end income tax exemptions, revoke the decision regarding impairment relief, and there should be no classification in disability pensions.”

He added that the Congress had launched the “Save Disability Pension” campaign on 9 February and warned of agitation if the policy was not reversed. “We launched the 'Save Disability Pension' campaign on February 9. If the government does not withdraw its decision by February 28, a major protest will be held at Jantar Mantar on March 1, and after that, ex-servicemen from across the country will gather in Delhi to put pressure on the government,” Chaudhry said.

There was no immediate response from the government to the allegations made by the Congress.