In a State with large part of its workforce contributing to the armed forces, both the Congress and the BJP have been using the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme to garner votes in poll-bound Uttarakhand.
However, neither the Modi government’s decisions on OROP nor the Congress’s inaction on the issue in the past has been able to divert ex-servicemen’s votes in favour of the two parties.
Addressing a rally here in December 2016, Prime Minister Modi said that of the ₹10,000 crore needed for the OROP scheme, ₹6,600 crore had already been released by the Centre and that the remaining would be released soon.
BJP leader Maj. Gen. (retd.) B.C. Khanduri, who is the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, told The Hindu : “Almost 90% of the issues around OROP have been resolved by us [the Modi government]. It will definitely attract votes for the BJP.”
However, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Gambhir Singh Negi, who is associated with the Congress, said: “In 2014, the ex-servicemen votes largely went for the BJP since Mr. Modi had said that he would cater to their demands on OROP. But, people [the ex-servicemen] have begun to realise that he [Mr. Modi] has not delivered on the promise...In Uttarakhand, the inclination of the ex-servicemen is slightly towards the Congress now.”
Lt. Gen. Negi said that first the Congress and now the BJP had been making false promises to ex-servicemen over OROP. “The Congress did not set aside funds for OROP until 2014 and now the BJP says it has fulfilled 90% of our demands. They [the BJP] must consider the OROP demands in totality,” he said.
Lt. Gen. (retd.) Tejpal Singh Rawat, a former Congress MLA, who was associated with the BJP for a brief period, said: “The ex-servicemen votes are divided. By not agreeing to all demands under the OROP scheme, which it had promised, the BJP has earned the ire of the ex-servicemen.”
Also, there is delay in building a war memorial in the State. Neither the Centre nor the Congress-led State government is willing to start the work on it, Brig. (retd). K.G. Behl of the Uttarakhand Ex-Services League said. Both the parties had taken the ex-servicemen votes for granted, he added.
The Army chief factor
Another factor that is likely to affect the voting among the two-lakh ex-servicemen in Uttarakhand, along with 60,000 people currently serving in the armed forces, is the Centre’s choice of General Bipin Rawat as the Chief of the Army Staff.
General Rawat, who is from Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal region, is the first Army officer from the State to have risen to the rank of an Army General.
“The Army General being from Uttarakhand is a matter of pride and it adds to the State’s prestige. It will definitely attract votes for the BJP,” Brig. Behl said.
Wary that the Combined Commanders Conference, to be held at the Indian Military Academy here on Saturday will influence voters in favour of the BJP, Chief Minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat alleged that Mr. Modi was attending the conference to “draw political advantage” ahead of polls.
