Grewal's suicide: Congress protests over detention of family members

The Congress on Thursday staged a protest against the central government over detention of grieving family members of the ex-serviceman who committed suicide over the OROP issue, and demanded an apology from the government.

Thousands of Congress workers joined a candle light march from Jantar Mantar to Amar Jawan Jyoti here.

"It is such a tragedy that when the head of the family is dead, their family members are detained," Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia told reporters here.

"The government must keep all the facts of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme before the nation and they must apologise to the family of the deceased soldier," Scindia said.

A 70-year-old former Rajputana Rifles Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal on Tuesday evening committed suicide by consuming poison reportedly seeking immediate implementation of the OROP scheme. His family members were allegedly manhandled and detained for hours by the police on Wednesday.

Lashing out at the BJP government at the Centre, Scindia said, "They say something and do something else. At the borders, our soldiers are laying down their lives for the country and they (the government) are doing something else here, which is now for the entire nation to see."

Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh also slammed the central government for disrespecting its veteran soldiers. "We are here to protest against the disrespect shown to the army veterans," Singh said.

Lashing out at Minister of State for External Affairs Gen V.K. Singh, the Congress leader said, "We are protesting against the way they have disrespected the retired subedar..."

Singh's remarks came after Gen V.K. Singh earlier in the day said that Grewal was a Congress party worker and had won the panchayat elections on its ticket.

The minister had on Wednesday also stoked a controversy by questioning the mental state of Grewal.

--IANS

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