New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has sharply rebuked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his remarks alleging systemic discrimination against Dalit and OBC students in central universities.

Reacting to Gandhi’s criticism of the “Not Found Suitable” label being used in faculty recruitment, Pradhan accused him and the Congress party of perpetuating falsehoods and ignoring their own track record.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Pradhan said, “Rahul Gandhi and the entire Congress party have today become the biggest brand ambassadors of lies and deceit. The so-called royal family of the Congress has consistently betrayed Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC). The prince of the party seems oblivious to his family’s long history of neglect and opposition to the cause of the deprived.”

He went on to allege that Congress was relying on “an imported toolkit” to manufacture narratives and mislead the public. “From time to time, Congress surfaces with a sack full of lies, hoping to distract from its own failures,” he added.

Pradhan presented data to counter Gandhi’s claim, stating that when the UPA government demitted office in 2014, a majority of teaching posts reserved for SCs, STs, and OBCs in central universities were vacant – 57 per cent for SCs, 63 per cent for STs, and 60 per cent for OBCs.

“In contrast, under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, our government not only began filling these posts but also increased their total number from 16,217 in 2014 to 18,940. The overall vacancy rate has come down from 37 per cent to 25.95 per cent,” he said, adding that the recruitment process is continuing at pace.

He further highlighted the increase in reserved category faculty appointments in premier institutions like IITs and NITs under the Modi government.

“Between 2004 and 2014, IITs had only 83 SC, 14 ST, and 166 OBC faculty members. NITs had just 261 SC, 72 ST, and 334 OBC appointments. But from 2014 to 2024, these numbers rose dramatically — 398 SC, 99 ST, and 746 OBC appointments in IITs, and 929 SC, 265 ST, and 1510 OBC appointments in NITs,” he said.

He also credited the Modi government for removing the mandatory PhD requirement for Assistant Professors, which he claimed had become a barrier for many candidates from deprived backgrounds.

On the contentious issue of the “Not Found Suitable” tag, Pradhan blamed Congress-era policies.

“The NFS categorisation that Rahul Gandhi is now decrying is a result of Congress’ anti-Dalit, anti-OBC, and anti-deprived mindset. It continued for decades post-Independence, despite Babasaheb Ambedkar’s vision,” he said.

Pradhan emphasised that it was the Modi government that finally addressed this injustice through legislative action.

“In 2019, we passed the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, which effectively ended the practice of filling reserved category posts with candidates from other categories. This was a decisive step towards ensuring that the constitutional rights of SC, ST, and OBC communities are upheld in practice.”

The Union Minister accused the Congress of being blind to positive change. “The Congress party is suffering from political jaundice — everything they see appears tainted. They invoke the Constitution at every turn but remain its biggest violators. The youth of this country are not fools. They know who has actually worked for social justice — it is Prime Minister Modi’s government,” he asserted.

Pradhan’s remarks came in response to Rahul Gandhi’s comments following his interaction with students from the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU).

During the interaction, students raised concerns about issues like discrimination, administrative bias, and the use of the “Not Found Suitable” category to deny opportunities to Dalit and OBC applicants.

Gandhi had described the NFS label as “a new means of assault” against socially disadvantaged groups and called upon students to recognise the deeper issue of systemic ostracisation.

–IANS

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