BJP's 'distorted version of Ram Rajya': Congress steps up attack over lateral entry

The Congress has strongly criticised the government after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Saturday issued a notification for recruiting 45 joint secretaries, directors and deputy secretaries through lateral entry.

New Delhi: Congress on Monday doubled down its attack on the Narendra Modi government over the latest advertisement for lateral entry into senior bureaucracy with its top leaders saying the BJP's “distorted version of Ram Rajya” seeks to “destroy” the Constitution and “snatch” reservations to give it to “people of RSS”.

Both Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul continued their attack on the government over the UPSC advertisement on Saturday seeking applications from professionals from outside civil service for appointment as Joint Secretaries, Directors and Deputy Secretaries in 45 posts.

However, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw hit back at the Congress, alleging that the opposition party's “hypocrisy is evident” in the issue, as it was the UPA government which developed the concept.

Referring to the Veerappa Moily-led second Admin Reforms Commission (ARC) established in 2005, he said the UPA period committee had recommended recruitment of experts to fill the gaps in roles that require specialised knowledge.

“The NDA government has created a transparent method to implement this recommendation. Recruitment will be done through UPSC in a transparent and fair manner. This reform will improve governance,” he said.

A day after calling the move as “privatisation of IAS”, Rahul posted on ‘X’, “lateral entry is an attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis. BJP’s distorted version of Ram Rajya seeks to destroy the Constitution and snatch reservations from Bahujans.”

Kharge claimed the Modi government would now give the posts of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections to people of RSS.

“This is the BJP's Chakravyuh to change the Constitution by snatching away the reservation,” he said.

He alleged that the ruling BJP has eliminated 5.1 lakh posts in the last 10 years by selling off the government of India's shares in PSUs alone instead of filling jobs in government departments. There has been an increase of 91 per cent in casual and contract recruitment while SC, ST, OBC posts have been reduced by 1.3 lakh by 2022-23, he said.

“We brought in a select group of lateral entry specialists and experts to place them in certain sector-specific positions as per their expertise. But the Modi government has made the provision of lateral entry not to appoint experts in the government but to snatch the rights of Dalits, tribals and backward classes,” he added.