Minister Kiren Rijiju Fails a Fact-check on Martyr Status for Paramilitary and Armed Forces

New Delhi: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday, February 25 made a false claim by saying that whoever sacrifices his life for the country is a martyr whether he is in Army or in Central Armed Forces. Interestingly, the minister had himself told Lok Sabha in December 2015 that the word ‘martyr’ is not used in reference to any casualties in the Indian Armed Forces and Paramilitary Forces such as Central Armed Police Force and the Assam Rifles during any action or operation.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Rijiju said, “Rahul Gandhi doesn’t know the rules and regulations, whoever sacrifices his life for the country is a martyr whether he is in Army or in Central Armed Forces.” He was commenting on the Congress president’s demand for granting “shaheed” (martyr) status to personnel of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and other paramilitary forces killed in action.

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The union minister of state for home is either ignorant of the rules and regulations or he forgot to state the correct facts.

Twitter users slammed the minister for “lying”.

Unless this has been changed subsequently, the minister himself had told the Lok Sabha in 2015 that the armed forces and para-military forces do not use the word “martyr”. pic.twitter.com/fx0JbUKBiz

— Anita Joshua (@anitajoshua) February 25, 2019

Dear Minister,
Either your Ministry is lying in the Parliament or you are lying to the public of India.
Please sort this out – pic.twitter.com/cPO8YUWuXh

— Pankaj Pachauri (@PankajPachauri) February 25, 2019

This Kiren rijiju has short term memory it seems

let me remind him what he said in 2016https://t.co/SYu8E2mpSB

— #DestroyTheAadhaar ‏‎‎غریب عوینجر (@GreySasquatch) February 25, 2019

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