New Delhi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Saturday, accusing the administration of orchestrating a “backdoor” strategy to dismantle the reservation system.
Taking to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the veteran leader argued that the government does not need to formally amend the Constitution to undermine affirmative action; instead, he alleged, they are effectively nullifying quotas by systematically eliminating government posts and leaving existing vacancies unfilled.
“The Modi government has devised a plan to end reservation through the back door,” Kharge wrote. He further emphasized, “It is not necessary to amend the Constitution—just eliminating jobs with reservations is enough.”
To bolster his claims, the Congress chief presented a stark statistical comparison of central government vacancies over the last nine years. According to Kharge, the number of vacant posts in the central government surged from 4.21 lakh in 2015 to 8.24 lakh by 2024.
Providing a department-wise breakdown of these figures, Kharge highlighted:
- Railways: 2.40 lakh vacancies.
- Defense: 2.41 lakh vacancies.
- Home Ministry: 1.10 lakh vacancies.
Beyond vacancies, Kharge criticized the government’s approach to Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), noting that 5.1 lakh permanent jobs have been eliminated within these institutions. He also raised concerns over the shifting labor structure, noting that the proportion of contractual workers in government-related roles has spiked from 19% to 49%.
The Congress leader argued that these maneuvers are part of a calculated strategy to erode social justice frameworks. “Keep government posts vacant, and the opportunity for reservations ends. Sell off PSUs, and reserved jobs end. Convert permanent jobs to contracts, and reservations end,” he asserted.
This latest outburst marks a significant escalation in the ongoing political battle over the future of reservation in India. The Congress party has consistently alleged that the NDA government’s policies regarding privatization and the outsourcing of labor are designed to dilute the constitutional protections afforded to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC).
As the debate intensifies, the opposition continues to paint the issue of eliminating jobs with reservation as a critical threat to the democratic and social fabric of the country, setting the stage for a heated confrontation in the legislative and public spheres.
