bjp-in-appeasement-mode-on-ugc-regulations

Appeasement of a particular section of society has always remained the main plank of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s political narrative. It still is and rightly so, because the Congress has always indulged in appeasement of different sections of the society for electoral purposes. It continues to do so even now and more boldly and bluntly.

 

Why should the BJP remain far behind particularly when it promises electoral dividends? The BJP is yet to come out of the shock of its 2024 General Elections, after realising that just 20 seats less and it would have been out of power. And that debacle was primarily for the Congress narrative during the 2024 campaign that by seeking ‘400 plus’ seats the BJP wanted to change the Constitution and finish reservations. Now the BJP seems to be going out of way to be seen as “more loyal than the king” in the proverbial way.

 

On January 13, the University Grants Commission issued “Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026”, which aim at combating “discrimination” in higher education. These regulations make it compulsory for all universities and colleges to establish Equal Opportunity Cells and Equity Committees to handle complaints on caste, religion, gender, disability and other discrimination, backed by monitoring and reporting mechanisms and set out penalties for non-compliance, including regulatory action. 

 

The Equity Committees must include representatives from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, persons with disabilities and women and institutions are required to operate helplines and awareness programmes.

 

The regulations are not only regressive but paradoxical as well. In order to promote equity and prevent discrimination, these are outrageously “discriminatory” against the general castes. While the Equity Committees are supposed to have members from all sections of the society, the general castes have been excluded under the misplaced and stereotypical notion that the students belonging to them (the general castes) can never be discriminated against!

 

Affirmative action for ending discrimination is always welcome. But not the way the UGC has issued these regulations. These have been issued with a mind-set that prevailed in the pre-Independence era. India has moved ahead by leaps and bounds. So has the Indian society. The discrimination does exist, but it is not restricted against the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes alone, the general castes are equally discriminated against, rather sometimes in a more severe manner than their counterparts in the other castes. In fact, the misuse of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the general castes is worse than discrimination. It is intimidation and persecution and in a large number of cases based on false accusations and complaints.

 

There is no dearth of examples, rather there is a plethora of incidents, where the anti-caste discrimination laws have been abused and these continue to be even now. The recent regulations by the UGC will only add to their misuse.

 

Rohith Vemula’s suicide is one of the reasons for setting up Equity Committees. Vemula, a PhD scholar in the Hyderabad University, was an activist of the Ambedkar Students’ Union. The ASA members clashed with the ABVP members on the campus during a movie screening, which resulted in suspension of five ASA members, including Vemula in 2016.

 

Also read: Govt brings equity rules to curb bias in educational institutions

 

Vemula later committed suicide. Although he did not blame anyone for his suicide, but regretted his birth in “such a body”, which was interpreted as his regret for having been born under those circumstances. While it was claimed that Vemula belonged to the SC community, a police closure report into his suicide in 2024 revealed that he was not an SC, but belonged to the Vaddera caste, which is counted as an OBC. The report claimed he held fake SC certificate and attributed the suicide to personal fears instead of outside pressure. However, Vemula’s family rejected the police closure report.

 

The Congress, particularly leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has been building up a narrative where he has been trying to integrate the SCs, OBC, STs and minorities together. He believes and claims that while these groups constitute roughly 90 per cent of the country’s population, they have practically no control or say over power and resources, which, according to him, have been grabbed by the “other ten per cent”, by whom he means the general castes.

 

Gandhi is taking a calculated gamble under the assumption that the general castes are mostly against the Congress and are with the BJP. He apparently believes, whether he speaks in their favour or against them that will make no difference, as they will support the BJP in any case. Moreover, he has also been appealing to the Gen Z of these communities to defend the country's Constitution, which he alleges is under threat from the BJP.

 

The BJP in turn wants to counter that narrative. It believes, and rightly so, that the universities and the colleges are the best places to build up narratives or counter these. Since the BJP’s opponents have consistently and continuously been trying to identify the party with the upper castes even describing it as “Manuvadi” (who believe in the doctrine of Manusmriti), the party wants to shed that image.

 

The UGC ‘equity’ regulations seem to be part of that “counter-narrative”. In the process it has overlooked the interests of the general castes under the safe belief that those castes are with the BJP anyway. This mirrors Rahul Gandhi’s belief that the upper castes will always remain against the Congress anyway.

 

Ideally, the UGC should withdraw these guidelines, which will surely and certainly be misused and abused for vested interests. There are no safeguards and preventive measures against the misuse of these regulations.

 

Affirmative action towards equity and uniformity is overdue in India, but not the way the UGC has introduced regulations, which are sectarian, parochial and grossly biased against the general castes. You cannot compare one type of discrimination with another type of discrimination. One sort of discrimination will not end another sort of discrimination. Discrimination is discrimination, whether with the SCs, the STs, the OBCs or the general castes.

 

The UGC regulations are outrageously discriminatory against the general castes and must be dismissed as such. Enough is enough. General castes have been maligned and stereotyped long enough. This must end.