There won't be two kinds of martyrs in India, vows Rahul Gandhi

"We will throw Agnipath scheme in the dustbin," Rahul Gandhi told a cheering crowd in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, during a joint rally with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

Gandhi asserted that the country does not need two kind of martyrs, "One that gets pension, the other that does not. One whose families are taken care of, the other whose families are not."

He added that India's armed forced do not want the Anipath scheme, and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the programme "to benefit Adani."

There were massive protests across the country, after the government announced the short military service scheme. The recruits -- named Agniveers -- serve for a tenure of four years, and are not be eligible for pension or any other government sponsored social security.

The Congress leader promised that the INDIA bloc would scrap the military recruitment scheme, introduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, if voted to power.