NEW DELHI: The decision to roll back an attempt to recruit 45 people into senior government jobs through a silo is the third such incident less than 75 days into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term and shows the precarious position his coalition government is in.
The Opposition has tasted blood and argues that the government is already in “regression” mode, citing the examples of the withdrawal of budget announcements on indexation and shelving the broadcasting bill.
Some have compared the decision to send the Waqf (Amendment) Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee to the way the ruling BJP pushed for the Triple Talaq Bill during the Modi 2.0 government.
One of the notable aspects of the Union Public Service Commission’s (UPSC) move to withdraw the recruitment advertisement is that the decision to hire professionals lies with the Ministry of Personnel, which reports directly to the Prime Minister.
The pressure from the Opposition and BJP allies JD(U), LJP (Ramvilas) and HAM was so great that three days after the advertisement, and hours after two senior ministers, including a Dalit, vehemently defended it, the government was forced to back down.
In their defence, senior ministers Ashwani Baishnau and Arjun Ram Meghwal cited the recommendations of the UPA-era Second Administrative Reforms Commission and referred to the induction of the likes of Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, questioning whether the quota principle was followed.
Since 2018, 63 people have been appointed through side appointments, but the government has not disclosed any information on the number of people appointed through side appointments before 2014. In a letter to the UPSC, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh had termed the “notorious” National Advisory Council, formerly headed by Sonia Gandhi, a “super bureaucratic organisation”.
Jairam Ramesh, general secretary and spokesman for the Indian National Congress, countered that these same ministers “suddenly find themselves forced to go off the rails and praise Modi as a champion of social justice”, saying “the hypocrisy knows no bounds”.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House Rahul Gandhi was quick to hit back at the government, saying the Indian National Congress would “thwart the BJP’s side-tracking conspiracies at all costs” and ensure caste-based social justice by striking down the 50 percent reservation limit.
Indian National Congress Party leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the reversal of the indexation decision, sending the Wakf Amendment Bill to a parliamentary committee and “shelving” the Broadcasting Bill showed the power of the people and the Opposition to save the country.
Senior RJD politician Manoj K. Jha said it was “no mean feat” that the government “was literally forced to reverse its decision”, while Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav claimed that “the BJP’s conspiracy has now failed. This is a major victory of awakening and awareness brought to the PDA (Pichide (Backward), Dalits and Adivasi) people.”
For the BJP, its failure to breach the 272-seat majority in the Lok Sabha and settle for 240 seats appears to have influenced its decision-making process, but the party is trying to portray Prime Minister Modi’s thoughtfulness in ensuring social justice in its decision to “review” the cross-cutting entry process.
Right from the start of its third term, the Modi government faced discontent from allies like the JD(U) and TDP over the Agnipat project.The BJP, once a staunch supporter of the Supreme Court’s sub-category, was also in no hurry to celebrate the Supreme Court’s verdict amid opposition from its ally, the LJP (Ramvilas).
Published on August 20, 2024 at 11:11 IST
