Ex-servicemen agitating over the ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP) issue today threatened to intensify the protest if their demands were not met by the Centre within three weeks.

Ex-servicemen from across the country on Sunday held a ‘Sainik Akrosh’ rally in New Delhi to protest the government notification on the ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP) issue.

They threatened to intensify the protest if their demands were not met by the Centre within three weeks even as they decided to not vote for BJP in the upcoming assembly elections.

The United Front of Ex-servicemen (UFES), an umbrella body of associations of ex-servicemen which is leading the protest, demanded that the Centre appoints “formally” former Army Chief and Union Minister V K Singh as the mediator between them and the government to resolve the issue “immediately”.

The protesting ex-servicemen, who have been agitating at the Jantar Mantar for the last 183 days, claim the OROP scheme announced by the government is different from its original definition that was agreed upon between the two sides.

“There is no demand… the (OROP) scheme that parliament approved and the notification issued are different,” Major General Satbir Singh (retd), who is spearheading the ex-servicemen’s agitation, said.

“There are seven major mistakes. They (government) are telling the nation they have given the OROP but they have actually finished it,” he said.

Singh also slammed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his alleged statement that more ex-servicemen were satisfied with the OROP scheme announced by the government.

“We are sad (that) Jaitley said most veterans have agreed to the scheme… it is a lie… look at the number of people who have come,” he said.

“The number would be even bigger had our other colleagues reached here in time. Jaitley claims their OROP is acceptable to most of us, it is a lie. More than 99.99 per cent of us are against it,” he claimed.

Aiming to mount pressure on the NDA government, the UFES urged its members to not vote for the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections in several including Assam.

The veterans claimed it were the votes of ex-servicemen which helped BJP improve its tally in the 2014 Lok Sabha – more than what the NDA major itself had expected, they claimed.

However, the government has “cheated” veterans by not giving the OROP they wanted and BJP had promised to give, Singh said.

“You saw what happened to the party in Delhi and recently Bihar. We urge the members to not vote for it in upcoming polls now if our demands are ignored,” he added.

The UFES also called upon ex-servicemen present at the rally to boycott Republic Day celebrations this year.

Singh also announced the UFES rejected 7th pay commission report, saying it is over and above OROP.

The government came out with a notification on OROP on November 7 but the veterans still remain unsatisfied. They have demanded that OROP should be implemented from April 1, 2014 and not July 1, 2015 as in the government notification.

OROP principle is in perpetuity and cannot be fiddled with, they maintain.