New Delhi: A day after the tragic killing of former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by a gunman, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) used the opportunity to target Centre’s Agnipath scheme by seeking to drawing a parallel between the two. The shooter, identified as 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, had served in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Forces (also called Japanese Navy) for 3 years. He was reportedly ‘unhappy & upset’ with ex-PM Shinzo Abe, however, the exact reasons of his abhorrence is still not known. ‘Jago Bangla’, a mouthpiece of the TMC latched on the issue and claimed in its front page story that the lack of pension might have driven youth to such murderous attack. #Agnipath Shadow in #ShinzoAbe's Killing: headline in #TMC mouthpiece #JagoBangla today. States assassin worked in #Japan maritime self defence force for 3 yrs without pension like #Agnipath scheme where Centre plans to employ youth for 4 & half years without any pension benefit pic.twitter.com/Iaha3K1xTI — ইন্দ্রজিৎ | INDRAJIT (@iindrojit) July 9, 2022 The TMC mouthpiece compared the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Forces with Centre’s Agnipath scheme and alleged that Modi govt was employing similar strategy for Armed Forces recruitment where the youth will be left to fend for themselves after 4 years without pension benefits and will thus ‘prepare the ground for such disasters’. TMC’s slanderous attack on the Centre comes despite the fact the Japan police saying that the attacker was disgruntled & dissatisfied over Abe’s association with a certain group he didn’t like. BJP tears into TMC The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reacted sharply to TMC’s outlandish charge and asked it to not spread doubt & misgivings in youths by making Agnipath scheme a political fodder. BJP spokesperson Shehzaad Poonawala slammed the disgusting politics of TMC & Congress and asked them to refrain from politicizing matters of national interest. The #BJP has hit out at #TMC mouthpiece's comments drawing parallels between #ShinzoAbe's death to #Agnipath scheme. 'It's disgusting to do politics on something as tragic as loss of #ShinzoAbe' says @Shehzad_Ind, #BJP spokesperson. Sherin, @Tamal0401 with more. pic.twitter.com/TAAMQTbgRS — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) July 9, 2022 Congress leader did it too Yesterday, Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput also drew a similar comparison between Japan’s self-defence forces & India’s ‘yet to become’ Agniveers. In a tweet, he said, “Yamagami, who shot Shinzo Abe, had worked in Japan’s SDF i.e. Army without pension.” शिंजो आबे #ShinzoAbeShot को गोली मारने वाला #tetsuyayamagami यामागामी जापान की SDF यानी बिना पेंशन वाली सेना में काम कर चुका था। — Surendra Rajput (@ssrajputINC) July 8, 2022 About Japan Self-Defence Forces Japan Self-Defence Forces are part of the Armed Forces of Japan and has 3 wings much like others – Group Self-Defence Force, Maritime Self-Defence Force & Air Self-Defence Force. These personnel get a one-time payment on their retirement and aren’t eligible for pension benefits.
