Lucknow: Reacting to the new University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations to deal with caste-based discrimination, Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajay Rai on Tuesday alleged that the Central government was trying to “divide people through the UGC.”
Ajay Rai said, “The way they did Hindu-Muslim to hide their failure, now through the UGC, they are trying to divide people. I believe they are about to go now; they are in their final stages. Gujarat’s industrialists are running all the big businesses. They want to somehow stay in power. In Hindus they want to create divisions. The Congress party will not let this happen, for the Congress, everyone is united. The system that was in place during our time should now be implemented more firmly.”
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday sought to allay concerns over the new UGC regulations, assuring that the law would not be misused and that there would be no discrimination in its implementation. Speaking to the reporters, Pradhan said,” I assure everyone there will be no discrimination and no one can misuse the law.”
Pradhan’s remarks came after new rules notified by the UGC on January 13, which update its 2012 regulations on the same subject, have sparked widespread criticism from general category students, who argue that the framework could lead to discrimination against them.
The new regulations, introduced to curb caste-based discrimination in colleges and universities, require institutions to establish special committees and helplines to address complaints, especially from SC, ST, and OBC students.
Meanwhile, in Lucknow, students staged a protest in front of Lucknow University, raising slogans against the UGC policies.
Earlier, Shyam Sundar Tripathi, Vice President of the BJP Kisan Morcha from the Salon constituency in Rae Bareli, had resigned from his post, citing dissatisfaction over new UGC policies.