The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday (July 25, 2025) accused the Congress party of not having done anything for the other backward classes (OBCs), adding that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government had taken several concrete measures for their welfare.
Dismissing as baseless the Congress party’s charge that the Modi government had not done anything for the OBCs, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told the media that the government was headed by an OBC leader for the first time.
Mr. Pradhan accused the Congress of opposing reservations for the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and OBC communities for many years. He alleged that former Congress chief Sitamram Kesri, a leader from an OBC community, was humiliated by his own party colleagues.
Past Congress stances
“If anyone opposed Mandal Commission the most, it was Rahul Gandhi’s late father Shri Rajiv Gandhi. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister, had written a letter to the Chief Ministers that reservation would be dangerous for the country’s development. When Pujya Baba Saheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar made the provision for reservation, Pandit Nehru had opposed it. Pandit Nehru’s daughter and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi also opposed reservation,” he said.
In 2019, under Mr. Modi’s leadership, the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act was brought in to ensure reservation for the SC, ST, and OBC categories in the appointment of assistant professor, associate professor, and professor posts. “Even when, for any reason, a qualified person is not found during the appointment process, the posts for reserved categories will not lapse,” he said.
“Rahul Gandhi says that there are vacancies in Central institutions. The fact is that in 2014, there were 16,217 teaching posts in higher education institutions, which increased to 18,951 in 2025. In the last 10 years we have created over 2,000 posts. In 2014, 37% of the 16,217 posts were vacant, while in 2025, there are about 19,000 posts and only 25% of them are vacant,” said the Union Minister.
“Today 8,150 SC, ST, and OBC candidates have been appointed… Efforts are being made to fill the remaining vacant posts in record time,” he said.
