New Delhi [India], January 29 (ANI): Following Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks that the UGC's new draft was a conspiracy to end the reservation benefit extended to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC), Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan lashed out at him, stating that Gandhi's politics is utterly based on 'lies'.

Earlier today, Gandhi said that UGC's new draft was a conspiracy to end the reservation benefit extended to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC), adding that the Congress "will never let this happen."

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"Rahul Gandhi's politics is completely based on lies. As soon as the truth of one lie is exposed, they rise up with another lie. The list of false statements made by him is endless. Now Rahul Gandhi and Congress Party are telling a new lie regarding appointment to reserved posts in higher education. But this lie of his has also been exposed on the test of facts," Union Minister Pradhan wrote in a post on 'X'.

"It is clear from the data that the maximum number of appointments have been made in the Modi government in proportion to the regular reservation on reserved posts in central universities. In the total appointments made on 6080 posts, the participation of Scheduled Caste (SC) is 14.3%, Scheduled Tribe (ST) is 7% and OBC is 23.42%. Apart from this, the appointment process for the remaining posts under these rules is in progress," he added.

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Dharmendra Pradhan further came down heavily upon the Congress saying that the latter has an 'old habit' of dividing the society and creating instability by spreading lies.

"Therefore, the false propaganda being spread by Rahul Gandhi that in these appointments, SCs are only 7.1%, STs are 1.6% and OBCs are 4.5%, is a complete lie. Congress has an old habit of dividing society and creating instability by spreading lies. The basic character of Congress is anti-SC-ST-OBC. While in power, Congress has always openly opposed the interests of the deprived society. Now when the Modi government is ensuring the participation of the deprived society, the anti-SC-ST-OBC face of the Congress and its leaders has once again come to the fore. There is an open challenge to Rahul Gandhi to provide concrete evidence of the false figures given to him or to publicly apologize for his lies," he said.

The Union Minister further stated that the truth is as 'clear as glass'.

"Now the truth is out. Clear as glass. Therefore, Congress's intention of sowing lies, cultivating lies and spreading lies is not going to succeed," he said.

Earlier today, in a post on X, Rahul Gandhi alleged a conspiracy by the RSS-BJP to do away with caste-based reservation in higher education.

"BJP-RSS, which have even talked about reviewing reservation, now want to snatch the jobs of the deprived class from such higher education institutions," Rahul Gandhi said.

The Congress leader also said that 3,000 of the 7,000 reserved posts in 45 central universities were vacant and that only 7.1 per cent of professors in these institutions were Dalits, 1.6 per cent from the ST category and 4.5 per cent from the OBC."This is an attempt to kill the dreams of those fighting for social justice and to eliminate the participation of the deprived sections,'' he added.

The Congress MP alleged is an attempt to murder the dreams of those struggling for social justice.

"This is the difference between 'symbolic politics' and 'real justice' and this is the character of the BJP. Congress will never allow this to happen - we will continue to fight for social justice and will fill these vacant posts only with qualified candidates from reserved categories," he added.

Earlier on Sunday, the Ministry of Education and University Grant Commission (UGC) clarified that no reserved post for faculty members in higher education institutions will be de-reserved.

This comes amid a report that the University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued draft guidelines for de-reserving vacancies in higher education institutes (HEIs).

Talking to ANI, Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of UGC, clarified that it is only a draft guideline and was released for public feedback.

"Let me clarify that we will put out a final document that will not have any de-reservations. There has been no de-reservation of reserved category positions in Central Educational Institutions (CEI) in the past and there is going to be no such de-reservation," Kumar said.

In a post on X, the Ministry of Education also said it has given directives to all the Central Educational Institutions to fill up the vacancies strictly as per the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019.

"Reservation in Central Educational Institutions (CEI) is provided for all posts in direct recruitment in Teacher's cadre as per the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019," the ministry said in the post."

After enactment of this Act, no reserved post is to be de-reserved. The Ministry of Education has given directives to all the CEIs to fill up the vacancies strictly as per the 2019 ACT," it added. (ANI)

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