OROP: Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal stand beside protesting ex-servicemen
Kejriwal on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accept ex-servicemen's demand for OROP on Independence Day.
"I wud urge Hon'ble PM to announce acceptance of the demand of OROP of our ex servicemen from Red Fort tomo," the Aam Aadmi Party chief tweeted.
Rahul Gandhi met the protesters at Jantar Mantar in the national capital on Friday.
"PM should give a date as to when he can bring in OROP, all this protest will end then," he said.
"These people shouldnt be removed, they're protesting for their right," Gandhi said.
Police on Friday had to scuffle with the ex-servicemen demonstrating for months for One Rank One Pension in the national capital's protest hub Jantar Mantar as they tried to clear the area and sanitize it ahead of the Independence Day celebrations on Aug 15.
Authorities tried to clear the area for security reasons ahead of the I-Day celebrations even as the ex-servicemen refused to move out.
The protesters, who had been living there for past many days in two tents on a relay hunger strike, said they would not move out till their demands were met.
If implemented, the scheme will benefit about three million-strong ex-servicemen and war widows in the country.
Ex-servicemen have been agitating with the demand for long.
One Rank One Pension scheme seeks to ensure that a uniform pension is paid to defence personnel who retire at the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement.
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