‘Weak PM’: Opposition says its efforts forced withdrawal of lateral entry into bureaucracy

The Opposition on Tuesday called Narendra Modi a “weak Prime Minister” and said that its efforts had forced the Centre to direct the Union Public Service Commission to withdraw its advertisement for recruiting bureaucrats through lateral entry.

The 2024 general election result “has given us two outcomes: a weak Prime Minister and a strong People's Leader of the Opposition”, said Manickam Tagore, the Congress’ Lok Sabha chief whip. “In the end, it’s a victory for our Constitution,” he added.

The Modi government had been forced to withdraw the Broadcast Bill and the “Long Term Capital Gain/Indexation” provision on immovable properties presented during the Union Budget, said the Opposition leader.

The Centre’s decision on lateral entry on Tuesday came hours after Union minister Jitendra Singh wrote a letter to the commission’s chairperson Preeti Sudan, urging her to cancel the recruitment.

The letter was written at the direction of Modi. Singh is the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Opposition parties and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), a Bharatiya Janata Party ally, had objected to the Union Public Service Commission’s August 17 advertisement calling for the recruitment of 45 joint secretaries, directors and deputy secretaries across 24 Union ministries.

The Opposition had alleged that the decision undermined the quota system guaranteed by the Constitution.

On Tuesday, the Opposition said that the Centre’s “conspiracy” against reservations had failed.

“We will protect the Constitution and the reservation system at all costs,” said Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. “We will foil conspiracies like BJP’s ‘lateral entry’ at any cost.”

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Centre had stepped back because of the campaign by his party and the Opposition INDIA bloc. “The Congress party’s fight for social justice for our Dalits, tribals, backward and weaker sections has foiled the BJP’s plans to snatch away reservation,” Kharge said.

“As long as BJP-RSS is in power, it will keep adopting new tactics to snatch away reservation,” added Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. “We all have to be careful.”

The Congress chief said that the government’s decisions to amend the 2024 Finance Bill to relax the increase in the long-term capital gains tax on immovable properties, to refer the Waqf Amendment Bill to a joint parliamentary committee and to put the Broadcast Bill “on the back-burner” showed that “the power of the people and the Opposition is saving the country from the Modi government”.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that the government’s “conspiracy” to make appointments through lateral entry “by rejecting reservation has finally succumbed to the unity of PDA [Pichde, Dalit and Alpasankhyak, or the backward classes, Dalits and minorities]”.

Calling it “a big victory”, Yadav said his party will postpone its agitation on the matter that was scheduled to start on October 2.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the “strong opposition” by the INDIA bloc had pushed the government to step back.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also said that the Centre had withdrawn the advertisement because of her party’s opposition to the decision.

After the advertisement was withdrawn, leaders of the BJP and National Democratic Alliance praised Modi for addressing concerns relating to reservations.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always firmly believed in social justice,” said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. “His programmes have advanced welfare of the weakest sections of our society. The decision to align lateral entry with principles of reservation shows Modi’s commitment to social justice.”

On Sunday, Vaishnaw defended the lateral entry decision and said that the reform will improve governance. “NDA government has created a transparent method to implement this recommendation,” he had said.

Union Minister Chirag Paswan, the leader of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), who had opposed recruitment through lateral entry, thanked Modi for reversing the decision.

“This government has set a precedent,” PTI quoted Paswan as saying. “Hopefully, regimes of future will show a similar sensitivity to public sentiments.”