Specify date for OROP's implementation: Rahul Gandhi to PM

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should give a specific date when his government was going to implement the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.

"The OROP as promised by the government must be fulfilled. The prime minsiter should give a date," he said at the Jantar Matar in central Delhi where he went to support protesting ex-servicemen over the issue.

"If he promises to implement OROP by a particular date, the protests will end. The PM has promised to implement OROP, he just need to say one thing that it'll be implemented by this particular date," he said.

Stating that Modi should have pondered the technicalities of implementing the OROP before "promising" it, Gandhi said: "These people have sacrificed their lives for the country. They have died standing on the border. They should be allowed to protest here."

One of the protesting ex-servicemen's wife turned furious as Gandhi arrived at the demonstration venue and attempted to politicise the issue.

"We have been protesting for 62 days, why didn't he come earlier? Where was he all this while? We cannot allow our protest to get politicised or get highjacked by politicians," she said.

The OROP, if implemented, will benefit 25 lakh ex-servicemen.

Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal criticised eviction of ex-servicemen from a protest site here and urged the prime minister to accept on the Independence Day their demand for OROP.