New Delhi [India], May 27 : Calling Rahul Gandhi and Congress the "biggest brand ambassadors of lies and fraud" in the country, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said the "royal family" of the oppostion party has "always deceived" the Scheduled Castes (SC)/ Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBC).
He also accused the Congress leaders of using the "imported toolkit" to spread lies in the country.
"Rahul Gandhi and the entire Congress party have become the biggest brand ambassadors of lies and fraud in the country today. The royal family of Congress has always deceived SC, ST and OBC, but the prince (Rahul Gandhi) does not know the anti-Dalit history of his own family. That is why every day the Congress, on the basis of an imported toolkit, presents a bundle full of lies for the prince," Pradhan said in a post on X.
He also alleged that during the long rule of Congress, the party had deprived the Dalits and OBCs of their rights.
https://x.com/dpradhanbjp/status/1927296751393722676
The Union Minister said this while replying to a post by Rahul Gandhi in which the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha had claimed that the Modi government was sidelining qualified SC/ST/OBC candidates by labelling them "Not Found Suitable" (NFS) in faculty recruitments.
"'Not Found Suitable' is the new Manuism now. Qualified SC/ST/OBC candidates are being deliberately 'disqualified' - to keep them away from education and leadership. Babasaheb had said: Education is the biggest weapon for equality. But the Modi government is busy blunting that weapon," Rahul's post read.
Pradhan further alleged that during the UPA-led government, Congress deprived SC/ST/OBCs of their rights.
"When UPA government left in 2014, 57% SC, 63% ST and 60% OBC teacher posts were vacant in central universities. Prime Minister Modi's government has filled these posts as soon as it came to power. Also, the Modi government increased the number of teacher posts from 16,217 to 18,940 in 2014. 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 Prime Minister Modi," the minister said, rebutting Rahul Gandhi's claim.
He claimed that during the Congress-led UPA government only 83 SC, 14 ST and 166 OBC faculty were in IITs, whereas only 261 SC, 72 ST and 334 appointments were made in NITs (National Institute of Technology).
"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. Modi government itself abolished the requirement of PhD for Assistant Professor," he added.
Pradhan further said, "The NFS - 'Not Found Suitable' that Rahul Gandhi is talking about, was the result of the anti-Dalit, anti-deprived Congress thinking that did politics in the name of Babasaheb.
But after the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teacher's Cadre) Act, 2019, brought during the Modi government, made the phenomenon of 'NFS' a history, he said.
"Now the posts reserved for SC, ST and OBC classes will not be filled by any other class, this is the gift of Prime Minister Modi. Along with this, Modi's government has also ended the bottlenecks in the reservation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, socially and economically backward classes, which the previous Congress governments could never do," he said.
Continuing his attack, Pradhan said sarcastically that perhaps the Congress party has jaundice, due to which they see bad things in everything good.
"The Congress party has jaundice, that is why they see everything in yellow colour, or rather they see bad in everything good. The Congress party, which takes the name of the Constitution on every issue, is itself the biggest attack on Babasaheb's Constitution and today the youth of the country knows that if anyone has done the work of real social justice, it is the government of Prime Minister Modi ji and no matter how many lies the Congress spreads, the youth of the country have unwavering faith in the Honorable Prime Minister Modi ji.," he said.