National

Rahul, Congress ‘biggest brand ambassadors of lies, deceit’: Pradhan hits back over anti-reservation jibe

newsnow9May 27, 202506 mins

New Delhi: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday accused Rahul Gandhi of spreading lies using an “imported toolkit” as he denounced the Congress leader’s claims that eligible candidates from SC, ST, and OBC communities were being deliberately declared ‘not found suitable’ to keep them away from education and leadership.

Pradhan alleged Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party have become “biggest brand ambassadors of lies and deceit” in the country and that it is the Congress’ Nehru-Gandhi family which has always betrayed the SC, ST and OBC population but the “prince” is unaware of his “royal family’s history”.

“That is why the Congress regularly appears with its pack of lies based on imported toolkit,” he said while drawing a favourable comparison of the successful applicants from these communities during the BJP government since 2014 against the data in the Congress’ rule between 2004-14.

Sharing a video of his recent interaction with students of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) on X, Gandhi said, “Not Found Suitable’ is the new Manuvaad now. Eligible candidates from SC/ST/OBC are being deliberately declared ‘unsuitable’ so that they are kept away from education and leadership.”

Further alleging a broader conspiracy against reservation policies in institutions like IITs, Central Universities, and Delhi University, Gandhi said, “Manuvaad’ is the ethos of a society governed by Manusmriti. This is no exception – the same conspiracy is going on everywhere, IITs, Central Universities. NFS is an attack on the Constitution. NFS is a betrayal of social justice.”

Senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan responded to Gandhi’s allegations and accused the grand old party of decades-long betrayal of the backward classes.

“The Congress royal family has always deceived SC, ST, and OBC, but the prince does not know the history of his own family against the deprived and anti-Dalit. That is why every day the Congress, based on an imported toolkit, presents a bundle full of lies for the prince,” he said in a post on X.

He further criticised the UPA government’s track record, saying that when it left office in 2014, “57% SC, 63% ST and 60% OBC teacher posts were vacant in central universities.” Pradhan emphasised that the Modi government had actively worked to fill these positions.

“The number of vacant posts, which was 37% in 2014, is 25.95% today, and the process of filling these vacant posts is still going on in the government of the Honorable Prime Minister Modi,” he added.

Citing recruitment data, Pradhan highlighted the difference between the two regimes. During the Congress tenure from 2004-14, there were only 83 SC, 14 ST, and 166 OBC faculty in IITs, whereas only 261 SC, 72 ST, and 334 appointments were made in NITs. Whereas during the Modi government’s tenure from 2014-24, 398 SC, 99 ST, and 746 OBC teachers were appointed in IITs and 929 SC, 265 ST, and 1510 OBC teachers were appointed in NITs,” he stated.

He also pointed out reforms brought in under the Modi government, including doing away with the PhD requirement for assistant professor roles and enacting legislation to safeguard reservations.

“To liberate the deprived class from that injustice, Prime Minister Modi’s government, dedicated to social justice for the first time, introduced The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teacher’s Cadre) Act, 2019, after which NFS is now history,” Pradhan said.

He blamed the historical policies of Congress for the emergence of the NFS category. “The NFS – ‘Not Found Suitable’ that Rahul Gandhi is talking about, was the result of the anti-Dalit, anti-exploited and anti-deprived Congress thinking that did politics in the name of Babasaheb.”

Attacking the Congress’s stand on the Constitution, he added, “The Congress party, which takes the name of the Constitution on every issue, is itself the biggest attack on Babasaheb’s Constitution.”