New Delhi: A 70-year-old ex-serviceman hailing from Haryana's Bhiwani district allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison on Wednesday at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi over the delay in implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP), police said.
The ex-serviceman, Ram Kishan Grewal left a suicide note in which he said that he was taking this extreme step for the benefit of soldiers, sources told CNN-News18.
Police said Grewal along with some other ex-servicemen was in the process of submitting a memorandum to the Defence Ministry over the issue of OROP.
According to his friends, Grewal had been upset over the issue for sometime.
Immediately after the news of the ex-serviceman's death hit the headlines, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal jumped to the fray and attacked the Centre over the issue of One Rank, One Pension.
In a series of Tweets, Kejriwal expressed grief over the incident and asked the entire country to fight for the rights of Jawans.
The AAP chief also released a video message trageted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the failure to implement OROP and blamed him for the suicide.
V sad. Soldiers fighting on border against external enemy n fighting within for their rights. Whole nation shud stand up for their rights https://t.co/deRYUV9J0y— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 2, 2016
According to sources, the Delhi CM will go to Haryana to meet the family of the deceased later in the day after the post-mortem examination.
Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal to visit the family of the ex-seviceman who committed suicide at jantar mantar over #OROP @CNNnews18— Rupashree Nanda (@rupashreenanda) November 2, 2016
In a second Tweet Kejriwal said that the former jawan's suicide proves Prime Minister Narendra Modi was lying about the implementation of OROP.
इसका मतलब प्रधानमंत्री जी झूठ बोल रहे हैं की OROP लागू कर दिया। OROP लागू हो जाता तो राम किशन जी को आत्महत्या क्यों करनी पड़ती? https://t.co/d9MPJjkf5A— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 2, 2016
The suicide comes two days after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in a veiled attack on Congress over One Rank One Pension (OROP) for soldiers, had said that Narendra Modi government was the first regime to implement this scheme unlike others who merely paid "lip service" to the issue.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who celebrated Diwali with the jawans at the Indo-China border in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday told them that he has fulfilled his dream to implement the One rank One pension.
"In my first public address in Rewari I was amongst the retired army men and that time I had said that since a long time OROP is due and I requested army that I have to fulfill my promise so please accept the dues in 4 installments and in those 4 installments everyone will get their money at home, first installment has reached," PM Modi had said.
"We have given 5500 crore rupees for the scheme. OROP was my dream and I have fulfilled it as
it was my promise," Modi added.
One Rank One Pension (OROP), or "same pension, for same rank, for same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement", has been a longstanding demand of the Indian armed forces and veterans.
Ex-servicemen had in January protested massively over the issue of One Rank One pension (OROP) moving from Jantar Mantar to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s residence whose Ministry, according to them, was responsible for the delay in OROP implementation.
The implementation of the one rank, one pension (OROP) for ex-Servicemen has been a perpetual source of discontent for the veterans’ community as their key objections have allegedly remained unaddressed.
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