Days after a proposal by the Narendra Modi government to overhaul the conduct of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination started attracting attention, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday called on students to rise up against the proposal.
Rise up students, your future is at risk! RSS wants what’s rightfully yours. The letter below reveals the PM’s plan to appoint officers of RSS’s choice into the Central Services, by manipulating the merit list using subjective criteria, instead of exam rankings. #ByeByeUPSC pic.twitter.com/VSElwErKqe
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 22, 2018
The Modi government's proposal involves changing the method for “allocation” of service and cadre to candidates who clear the prestigious examinations. Under the present system, candidates who clear the UPSC exam, based on their rank, can choose/or are allotted their preferred service (IFS, IAS, IPS etc.).
The government has written to the cadre-controlling ministries to know whether it is feasible to allocate service and cadre to candidates after they finish the mandatory three-month foundation course. The allocation would be based on a candidate's performance in both the UPSC examination and the foundation course.
While some bureaucrats have claimed the move could help better assess candidates, others say the proposal could make the allocation process very arbitrary in nature. DMK leader M.K. Stalin claimed the move was aimed at doing away with reservations for dalits and backward classes.
Gandhi tweeted on Tuesday that “your (students') future is at risk! RSS wants what’s rightfully yours.” He claimed the proposal was Modi's plan to appoint RSS' choices to the UPSC by manipulating the merit list. Gandhi's tweet also attached a letter from the PMO on the issue.
The PMO letter attached in the tweet of Rahul Gandhi
In recent years after the advent of the Modi government, opposition groups have expressed dismay over RSS ideologues being invited to lecture candidates who had cleared the UPSC exams.
Gandhi had previously waded into students' issues, which were attributed to interference by the BJP or its affiliated organisations like the ABVP. He visited the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus soon after a group of students were arrested for allegedly shouting anti-nationalist slogans in 2016. Gandhi had also joined students protesting the suicide of Rohit Vemula at Hyderabad University.