‘Rules can be changed further’, says Sachin Pilot after protest of soldiers' widows intensifies in Jaipur

The rules were amended earlier, they can be amended further as well, said Rajasthan former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot after a protest by the widows of the soldiers killed in the 2019 Pulwama attack intensified against the state government for the alleged non-fulfillment of promises made to them.

"Politics on 'Virangana' (widows of soldiers who died in Pulwama attack) is wrong. It will send a wrong message. The issue of one-two job isn't big, rules were amended earlier, and they can be amended further as well," Pilot said while talking to the reporters on the second day of his visit to his constituency of Tonk on Saturday.

"We should try to listen to them peacefully and give answers that gives them satisfaction. We should do whatever work we can. This is a matter related to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, but till now there is no dialogue or way of the solution has been shown from there. However, nobody should play politics on this sensitive issue," Pilot added.

He further said that those who made supreme sacrifice for the nation are pride for the whole nation. Rajasthan Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore along with several other leaders and workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were detained by police on Saturday in Jaipur during their protest against CM Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in the state over the matter of outcry by widows of jawans who lost their lives in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack.

Heavy police were deployed in Jaipur in view of the massive protest.Protesting BJP leaders and workers raised slogans against CM Ashok Gehlot-led government in Rajasthan and accused it of insulting the widow of jawans killed in the Pulwama terror attack. Some of them could also be seen climbing up on barricades erected by the police to prevent untoward incidents.

"The government turning their backs on widows after making promises, taking four years' time, misbehaving with them and beating Kirodi Lal Meena who was on his way to see the widows is the symbol of government's undemocratic means...We will put up a peaceful protest," BJP leader Rajendra Rathore said.

"We have initiated the protest today and we will continue it. The kind of behaviour the state govt is showcasing is an insult to democracy, we will take the protest against the govt further in all corners of the state," Rathore said.

"If this is the government's reason (job appointment should not be given to brother-in-law, right is of children) then why ministers of the government went in public and announced that children are young, the job appointment will be given to brother-in-law," Rathore added.

Reacting to the BJP's protest, Congress leader and Rajasthan Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said, "We respect Dr Kirodi Lal Meena, he's a senior leader, it is not a BJP vs Congress thing. Rajasthan government is with the families of martyrs. BJP is politicising the issue, they might have received orders from the top brass."

"We all respect Kirodi Lal Meena, he picks up issues of the public but BJP needs to stop playing politics...When this matter became serious the BJP came into the picture," said Khachariyawas while speaking to ANI. On Friday, BJP leader Kirori Lal Meena was rushed to Sawai Man Singh (SMS) hospital in Jaipur after he reportedly sustained 'injuries' during a clash with police. While BJP workers staged a protest outside the hospital.

BJP MP Kirori Lal Meena, who accompanied the protesting widows at the spot, alleged that the widows of the soldiers killed in the Pulwama terror attack were insulted by the state government. Protests by the Pulwama widows intensified on Thursday as they sought justice from the Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government by putting grass in their mouths.

Sundari Devi, the wife of Jeetram who lost his life in the Pulwama terror attack in 2019, while talking to ANI said that she had written many times to the ministers and CM Gehlot asking for a job for her brother-in-law, but has not received any response from any of them.

"It's been 4 years, and we kept writing to ministers and the CM for a job for my brother-in-law and a college in the name of Jeetram, but nothing has happened in this regard so far," she said.

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