Overview
- The party set a February 28 deadline for the government to withdraw the reported change and threatened a March 1 protest at Jantar Mantar if it is not reversed.
- Congress says Rahul Gandhi will take up the issue on February 19 at the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, which is examining the Defence Ministry’s 2026–27 grants.
- Party leaders allege the Finance Bill 2026 limits income‑tax exemption to personnel invalided out after war injuries, excluding those retained in service or with disabilities attributable to service conditions.
- Critics contend a 2023 policy renamed disability pension as “Impairments Relief” and runs contrary to a 2023 Supreme Court position they say bars taxing such pensions.
- Congress claims roughly 200,000 disabled soldiers could be affected and accuses the government of seeking savings of about Rs 125 crore, with no official response reported so far.