Members of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) staged a rail blockade in Coimbatore against the Agnipath soldier recruitment scheme on Wednesday.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP) removed the protestors from the track as they shouted slogans against the scheme and the Union government.
According to the police, around 40 protesters, including women, entered the railway station. They hid flags and banners as they walked inside, they said.
The protesters squatted before the engine of a train on platform number one before RPF and GRP personnel could reach the spot. The personnel removed them from the track as they shouted slogans. They were later detained.
Meanwhile, the police stopped members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) at the main entrance of the railway station after they planned a rail blockade in protest against the Agnipath scheme. Around 50 persons were detained and removed by the police.
‘Anti-national’
In Salem, members of the SFI and Centre of Indian Trade Unions, affiliated to the Communist Party of India, staged protests at different locations on Wednesday.
At a protest organised outside the railway junction, SFI members raised slogans against the scheme and said it was against the nation’s interest. They said that instead of providing jobs to the youth, the scheme would make them jobless forever. They took out a march from Uzhavar Sandhai in Suramangalam and attempted to enter the junction. But, the policemen erected barricades and prevented their entry. Later, the police removed over 20 members in a police vehicle.
At a function organised by CITU outside the goods shed at market area, members said the scheme would raise a serious security concern and the Centre’s move to introduce a contract system of labour in the army was unacceptable. “The scheme will spoil the career and the life of youngsters,” they said and wanted the scheme, which they termed as anti-national, to be withdrawn.
