New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took a jibe at some Union ministers on Tuesday, saying those who were blaming former prime minister Manmohan Singh over the lateral-entry issue have suddenly been “derailed” and forced to hail Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Centre decided to cancel the latest lateral-entry recruitment.
His remarks came after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Tuesday cancelled its latest advertisement to fill key posts in government departments through lateral entry, amid a political row over the lack of a reservation provision for those positions.
“Till last evening, Dr Manmohan Singh was being blamed by Union Ministers for the mass lateral entry scheme into the bureaucracy. Some friendly commentators expectedly even extended the line of blame back to (Jawaharlal) Nehru,” the Congress general secretary in-charge communications said in a post on X.
“Now the very same ministers have suddenly been derailed and are being forced to hail the non-biological PM as a champion of social justice. Hypocrisy ki koi seema nahin hai (There is no limit to hypocrisy)!” Ramesh added.
He said lateral entry was strongly advocated by the NITI Aayog in 2017 and announced a year later as a big reform measure that would transform the civil service.
“Since 2019, there have been 63 appointments through lateral entry. A further 45 were planned this year but these have just been cancelled,” Ramesh said.
“The non-biological PM is now trying to do much damage control. His drumbeaters are trying to shift responsibility, while the plain and simple truth is that it was hailed as one of Mr Modi’s transformational initiatives when it was launched,” he said.
In another post on the microblogging platform, the Congress leader tagged Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s posts on X on Sunday and Tuesday, and said: “The difference between reel and real life.” In his post on Sunday, Vaishnaw had said the Congress’s criticism of the lateral-entry system in senior bureaucracy shows its “hypocrisy” and asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government has created a transparent method to implement the concept developed by the UPA dispensation. He had said the reform measure implemented by the NDA government will improve governance.
After the Centre’s decision to withdraw the lateral-entry advertisement, Vaishnaw said in a post on X on Tuesday: “Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi Ji has always firmly believed in social justice. His programmes have advanced welfare of the weakest sections of our society.” “The decision to align lateral entry with principles of reservation shows PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s commitment to social justice,” he added.
Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday for his claim that the Centre was trying to bypass the reservation system through lateral entry, reminding the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha that Manmohan Singh was appointed as the finance secretary in 1976 through the lateral-entry route.
The minister had also dismissed as “baseless” Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that those associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) would be hired as public servants through this mode and pointed out that it was Modi who made the system of lateral entry methodical by giving the mandate to the UPSC for framing rules. Earlier, there was no formal system in place for such entry into governance, he had pointed out.
Meghwal had said former Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had entered service through the lateral-entry route. He had also said Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi was made the head of the National Advisory Council (NAC).
“The prime minister’s is a constitutional post. But is the NAC a constitutional body?” Meghwal had asked reporters, adding that Sonia Gandhi was placed above the prime minister.
He had also alleged that former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed reservation in 1961 and as the leader of opposition, Rajiv Gandhi had opposed Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation on the floor of the Lok Sabha. PTI ASK RC
