Lateral entry third rollback for Modi 3.0 in three months

New Delhi, NT Bureau: The Centre’s withdrawal of the decision to recruit high-ranking bureaucrats via lateral entry on Tuesday became the third instance of rollback of a policy after less than three months in power.

The withdrawal refers to the recruitment advertisement for 45 specialist posts by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC), which comes under the Ministry of Personnel, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The rollback came after parties from the Opposition India National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) including Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) opposed it.

Interestingly, they were joined by ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) parties such as JD(U) Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Hindustan Awami Morcha (HAM).

They branded it a violation of the reservation policy, which gives representation to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the Congress will protect the Constitution and the reservation system at all costs and foil "conspiracies" of the BJP.

"I am saying it again - by removing the 50 per cent reservation cap, we will ensure social justice based on caste census," the former Congress chief said.

Indexation policy, Broadcast Bill make up others

Another withdrawal was the Centre restoring indexation benefits for properties purchased before July 23, 2024, allowing them to continue to reduce taxable profits by accounting for inflation.

The third rollback referred to the Broadcast Bill which sought to bring YouTubers under its ambit being sent back to the drawing board. Other observers include the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which has been sent to a joint Parliamentary panel.

They contrast the move with the Modi regime pushing through the “triple talaq” Bill in 2019. Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge have been especially critical of the aforementioned policies.

We will protect Constitution, reservation at all costs —Rahul Gandhi after govt's lateral entry U-turn

Meanwhile, Union Ministers such as Ashwani Vasihnav and Arjun Ram Meghwal pointed out that Congress-led governments had recruited Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia as advisors and set up the National Advisory Council (NAC) in violation of the quota policy.

Lacking majority, BJP had no option

The BJP came to power at the Centre for the third time but did so with 240 seats, falling short of the 272 majority mark and making them dependent on the support of allies for key executive and legislative decisions. JD(U) has 12 Lok Sabha MPs while Telugu Desam Party (TDP) boasts of 16.