Rollback in 72 hours! What led to Centre’s lateral entry U-turn

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the UPSC to withdraw its advertisement for lateral entry recruitments. (File Photo: PTI)

Two days after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) called applications for lateral entry into the government service, the Centre on August 20 rolled back the decision, the first such instance in the Modi 3.0 government.

The Centre wrote to the UPSC asking it to withdraw the advertisement that sought applications for lateral entry to 45 posts of joint secretaries, directors and deputy secretaries across 24 ministries on contract basis. The positions were to be filled by September 17.

The move triggered a flurry of reactions from the Opposition as well as the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Opposition's offensive

Congress MP and leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was among the first to launch an all-out attack against the government, calling it an attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis.

“Narendra Modi is attacking the Constitution by recruiting public servants through 'Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh' instead of Union Public Service Commission. Reservation of SC, ST and OBC categories is being openly snatched away by recruiting through lateral entry on important posts in various ministries of the central government,” he said.

His party president Mallikarjun Kharge dubbed the decision an attack on the Constitution. “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. The posts of SC, ST, OBC, EWS will now be given to people of RSS. This is the BJP's Chakravyuh to change the Constitution by snatching away the reservation,” Kharge said.

Congress’ INDIA partner Samajwadi Party was equally scathing. “The whole plan is to snatch away reservation and rights from PDA (Pichde, Dalit, Alpasankhyak). Now that BJP has come to know that PDAs across the country have woken up against BJP's ploy to abolish the Constitution, it wants to deny reservation by making direct recruitment to such posts under some other pretext,” party chief Akhilesh Yadav posted on X.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister demanded immediate withdrawal of the order.

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, another former UP chief minister, also criticised the decision and said employees working in lower positions would miss promotions.

“If people from SC, ST and OBC categories are not given appointment in proportion to their quota in these government appointments, then it will be a direct violation of the Constitution. And filling these high posts by direct appointment without making any rules would be arbitrary on the part of the BJP government, which would be illegal and unconstitutional,” she said.

Unhappy allies

Not just the Opposition, the BJP’s allies too voiced their reservations. Key NDA partners Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) opposed the move, while the Telugu Desam Party supported it.

“We are a party that has been asking governments to fill quotas since inception. We are followers of Ram Manohar Lohia. When people have been socially disadvantaged for centuries, why are you seeking merit? This order by the government is a matter of serious concern for us,” JD(U) spokesperson KC Tyagi said.

The decision gave the Opposition an issue to beat the NDA with. “Those opposed to the NDA will misuse this advertisement. Rahul Gandhi will become a champion of the socially disadvantaged. We should not be giving a weapon in the hands of the Opposition,” he added.

Paswan, who is the food processing industries minister, was unequivocal in his opposition to the move. “Reservation provisions must be there in any government appointment. There are no ifs and buts in this. No reservation exists in the private sector and if it is not implemented in government positions as well…it is a matter of concern for me,” he told PTI, adding his LJP was “absolutely not in support” of lateral entry without reservation.

The rollback, done at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appears to have been prompted by the Opposition’s attempts to paint the decision as “anti-quota”, a risk the BJP could ill-afford especially after what played out in the Lok Sabha campaign.

For the BJP, the reservation issue is a sensitive one, especially with the opposition successfully turning on head its “400 par” slogan as a bid to rewrite Constitution and do away with reservation. Though the party was at pains to explain it had no such plans, the opposition did manage to strike a chord with voters in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

In his letter to the UPSC, Union minister Jitendra Singh said PM Modi was of the firm belief that the process of lateral entry must be aligned with the "principles of equity and social justice enshrined in the Constitution, particularly concerning the provisions of reservation".

For the PM, reservation in public employment was a cornerstone of social justice framework, aimed at addressing historical injustices and promoting inclusivity.