With the upcoming Punjab polls in sight, a group of ex-servicemen who were at the forefront of the protests for One Rank One Pension (OROP) launched a new political party, the Fauji Janta Party (FJP), on Wednesday.
Denying any contradiction in veterans getting into politics, Maj. Gen. Satbir Singh (retd), adviser for the new party, said the armed forces had seen consistent erosion in stature.
“We have formed a political party to work from within the political system, which is so badly diseased. We have to begin that from the village level. For that, we have coined a slogan ‘From Panchayat to Parliament’,” he told the media at the event.
Punjab electionsThe immediate focus of the FJP is the upcoming elections in Punjab, which has a large number of ex-servicemen. Maj. Gen. Singh did not rule out alliances at a later stage, but said they would be evaluated based on what they propose.
He said the idea of a party came after veterans fared well in Panchayat elections in Haryana last year. “In Biwani district, we encouraged 42 faujis to contest and all of them won. Similarly, in Jhajjar district 19 stood and all won and in Ambala all the 21 who contested won,” Maj Gen Singh said. That was when they thought about launching a party.
The armed forces were employed both for external and internal duties, Gp Capt Vinod Gandhi (retd), Advisor, FJP, said. “So we might as well get into politics.”
Lakhs of veteransHe said that there were about four lakh veterans in Punjab in addition to their families. “There are also serving soldiers and 21 cantonments in the State. Serving personnel are now allowed to vote.” Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, a Patron for the FJP, lashed out at the government for going back on its poll promise of bringing back black money.
