High political drama unfolded on the streets of central Delhi on Wednesday as the police detained top Opposition leaders trying to meet the family of an ex-serviceman who committed suicide seeking uniform pension for retired military personnel.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was on Thursday detained for the third time in two days, with Delhi Police picking him up from Jantar Mantar to prevent him from leading a protest march over the suicide of an ex- serviceman, allegedly due to his grievances in implementation of OROP.
Later, the ex-serviceman, whose alleged suicide over the OROP issue unleashed a political storm, was on Thursday cremated at his native village in Haryana where politics played out again with Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal being among the mourners.
DC take:
It is true that the stance now adopted by the Congress party over the death of the veteran is nothing but shedding crocodile tears. They were in power for decades and never even bothered to look into the demands of the ex-servicemen. It cannot be denied that ultimately, OROP was brought into effect by the NDA government.
Pension woes
Ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal, who allegedly committed suicide over OROP, was one of the recipients of benefits under the revised pension scheme, defence ministry sources said, as his death sent political temperature soaring in the national capital. Here’s more on the issue:
What is OROP?
It promises to provide equal amount of pension to veterans retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of the retirement date.
How will it work
The pension of pensioners would be re-fixed on basis of the pension of the retirees of 2013 and the benefit would be from July 1, 2014.
