National
NEW DELHI,
December 25, 2015
Updated: December 25, 2015 00:02 IST
BJP’s pledge before polls is now being ‘dishonestly repudiated’, says letter to Defence Minister
Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, in a strongly worded
letter to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, asked him to use his good
offices with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end the impasse on the
issue of One Rank, One Pension (OROP).
A former BJP
leader, Mr. Jethmalani has of late become a fierce critic of the Modi
government and is also legally representing the protesting
ex-servicemen.
“The Hon’ble Prime Minister’s only excuse for non-compliance of the promise repeatedly made by Shri Modiji during
the campaign is that he had not understood the financial implications
of the proposal. This is not what one expects from the Prime Minister,”
Mr. Jethmalani said in the letter written on Wednesday.
This
excuse he noted was unjust and totally irrelevant and did no credit to
the government. “This is worse than your party president’s excuse for
not fulfilling the black money pledge by calling it an election joke (jumla),”
he said referring to BJP president Amit Shah’s remarks early this year
that the promise to deposit Rs. 15 lakh in everyone’s account from black
money brought back to the country was a “political jumla”.
“You
are one of the few Ministers for whom I have great respect and that
alone induces me to write this to you,” Mr. Jethmalani said. He
cautioned Mr. Parrikar that “there is some misunderstanding being
created by some in your own party who want ‘a Bihar’ to be repeated in
other States.”
Observing that the OROP has been a
“solemn promise” repeatedly made by the BJP during the last election
campaign, Mr. Jethmalani said this binding pledge was now being
“dishonestly repudiated” and cautioned that jawans were not going to
accept a clear violation of the solemn promises made to them.
Requesting
Mr. Parrikar to “apply your mind to this serious matter” Mr. Jethmalani
said he could personally attend the meeting “if one takes place to sort
this out”.
The government, on November 7, had issued
the notification for implementing the OROP. However, the veterans
rejected it saying that it diluted the OROP as promised by the
government and as accepted by the Parliament.
The
major issues of disagreement are the issue of premature retirement (PMR)
and pension equalisation. The notification stated that “those opting
for the PMR henceforth on their own accord will not be eligible for the
OROP” which caused major concern among the serving community. In
addition veterans have been demanding annual equalisation of pension as
against five years proposed by the government, which is against the
spirit of the OROP.t
TO BE IN BRIEF, HOT CAKE IN TODAY'S NEWS PAPER IS MPs salary is going to be doubled.their pension too. For them no file pending with Min of finance. As fore runner it is understood the delhi government already hiked MLAs entitlement. No Ramjeth MALINIJI required to defend.What a great bonanza to their patriotism, their salary AND PENSION is going to be over and OUR PRESIDENT OF INDIA.FINE, FINE, THE DAYS ARE NOT FAR AHEAD PERHAPS OUR SUPREME COMMANDER AND HONOURABLE PRESIDENT OF INDIA will lead us at JANTA mantir to fight for his One rank one pay and OROP too
ReplyDeleteI THINK THERE WILL BE NO PRESSURE ON FINANCE MINISTRY
DeleteOUR HON'BLE MPS NEED NOT TO GO TO JANTER MANTER FOR FAST UNTO DEATH
Our MPs and MLAs are in BPL quota, hence, salary hike is justifiable. We all ESMs donot come under BPL quota, why should we weep for OROP ?
ReplyDelete