The Scheduled Caste (SC), ST (Scheduled Tribe) and Other Backward Class (OBC) communities back the stringent safeguards against caste-based discrimination. Upper castes, the BJP’s core voter base, have sought protection against the potential misuse of these provisions. As the Union government moves to revisit the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) 2026 equity regulations, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finds itself in a quandary.
In a post on X, BJP’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge Vinod Tawde cited the Supreme Court hearing and the Central government’s plan to constitute a panel on the regulations. The BJP’s social engineering formula of giving representation to marginalised sections has been expanding its voter base. The issue was discussed at RSS’s gathering in Indore this week. “The Sangh has made its position clear that the UGC circular was imbalanced. This concern was brought to the attention of the authorities, and both the government and the UGC took note of it. The Opposition has cocked a snook at the BJP.
He said the plan will ensure that no discrimination occurs against students of any category due to its imbalances. A second BJP leader said the Opposition managed to create fear through their false narrative that the party wanted a brute majority to change the Constitution and do away with caste- based reservation during the 2024 national polls. The Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance won 43 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh and polled 43.52% of the votes in the 2024 polls. The BJP’s seats fell from 62 in 2019 to 33, dropping its overall tally below the majority mark in Parliament for the first time since 2014.
A BJP leader said the party can neither afford the upper castes to move away nor do without the support of the OBCs. Sunil Ambekar, RSS’s chief spokesperson, said that the guidelines were imbalanced. He said the government should ensure that any changes or decisions concerning the rules maintain fairness and social harmony. The [Supreme] Court has also put the regulations on hold, and the matter is currently sub judice,” Ambekar said. In a post on X, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said the government’s response seems to stem from concerns about the polls. “Fearing the results of the Uttar Pradesh elections, this argument is now being presented in the Supreme Court on behalf of the government: until now, they had been sitting silently, ready to implement the guidelines, and even after the Supreme Court stayed it, they took so much time just to say that a committee would be formed…”
