The Uttar Pradesh Congress has launched a sharp attack on the state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, accusing it of a major "reservation scam" in a recent recruitment drive. The party alleges large-scale violations of mandated quotas for Other Backward Classes (OBC), Scheduled Castes (SC), and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the hiring process for lekhpal positions conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UPSSSC).
Alleged Discrepancies in Lekhpal Recruitment Figures
Addressing the media in Lucknow on Wednesday, Dr. C P Rai, the chairman of the UP Congress media department and a former minister, presented figures that he claims expose systematic injustice. According to Dr. Rai, the advertisement for 7,994 lekhpal posts allotted a mere 1,441 posts to OBC candidates. This constitutes only about 18% of the total, a sharp deficit from the legally mandated 27% reservation for the category.
This discrepancy, the Congress leader stated, has resulted in a loss of approximately 717 posts for OBC aspirants. For Scheduled Castes, 1,446 posts were allocated, while Scheduled Tribes received 150 posts. The general category, however, was granted 4,165 positions. Dr. Rai branded this a clear "reservation scam" and stated these numbers reveal the BJP government's alleged anti-backward and anti-Dalit policies.
A Pattern of Violations in Education and Past Recruitments
The Congress leader did not limit his allegations to the lekhpal recruitment alone. He asserted that the situation in the state's higher education sector is equally alarming. He claimed that a significant number of teaching posts reserved for backward communities in central universities remain vacant.
Dr. Rai cited specific vacancy rates: a staggering 66.8% for OBC posts, 54.4% for SC, and 58% for ST categories. He accused educational institutions of not following the prescribed roster systems and deliberately keeping backlog vacancies unfilled, thereby depriving qualified candidates from reserved categories of opportunities.
Furthermore, Dr. Rai revisited the earlier recruitment drive for 69,000 assistant teachers. He alleged similar irregularities there, claiming OBCs received only 3.86% reservation instead of 27%, and SCs got 16.6% instead of 21%. He termed this a separate scam involving nearly 19,000 posts that rightfully belonged to reserved category candidates.
Political Silence and Electoral Consequences
In his press conference, Dr. C P Rai also trained his guns on OBC community leaders who are allied with the BJP, including ministers and partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He accused them of maintaining a calculated silence on these alleged injustices for their own political gains and comfort.
The Congress leader declared that his party would persist in its fight for the rights of backward, Dalit, and tribal communities. He served a warning that this issue would be a central point of discussion and debate in the upcoming elections, aiming to hold the ruling dispensation accountable for what the Congress frames as a betrayal of constitutional guarantees.
The allegations put forth by the UP Congress have added a new layer of political contention in the state, centering on the sensitive and politically significant issue of reservation in government jobs and education.
