Bias against OBCs, SCs, STs in U.P. govt. appointments, Union Minister tells Yogi

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel has written to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleging bias in appointments of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe candidates in government jobs in the State. Ms. Patel heads the Apna Dal (S), a member of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Ms. Patel’s letter, written on her party’s letterhead, comes weeks after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) poor performance in the Lok Sabha election and is being seen as part of a tussle within the party and its allies in Uttar Pradesh.

In her letter, written on Friday, Ms. Patel said the NDA government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken steps to provide reservation for students of backward classes in the entrance examination of Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, Sainik Schools and NEET to ensure their bright future.

“The candidates from OBC and SC/ST communities are constantly contacting me and saying that they are often declared ‘Not Found Suitable’ for the posts reserved for them in various competitive examinations conducted by the State government that have an interview-based recruitment process. Later, these posts are declared unreserved,” Ms. Patel wrote.

The Minister said Mr. Adityanath would agree that candidates from OBC and SC/ST communities fulfil the minimum eligibility criteria for these examinations and reach the interview on the basis of their merit. “Hence it is beyond comprehension that candidates from OBC and SC/ST communities are being repeatedly declared as ‘Not Found Suitable’ and that this should be stopped by taking effective action to stop the anger arising among the candidates from these communities,” she said.

Ms. Patel urged the Chief Minister to organise multiple rounds of interviews to fill the posts and not declare them unreserved. “It is also requested that necessary provisions be made to make it mandatory to fill the posts reserved for OBCs and SC/ST categories in competitive examinations having interview-based recruitment process, with the candidates coming from these categories only, no matter how many times the recruitment process has to be conducted for this,” she said.

Reacting to Ms. Patel’s letter, a senior BJP office bearer from Uttar Pradesh said: “At a time when the BJP is trying to overcome its loss in polls, majorly due to the Opposition’s pitch in which it almost convinced the backward sections of voters that the party will change the Constitution if given 400 seats, this letter by the party’s ally may further dent the ruling party.”

Many in the BJP, however, are seeing Ms. Patel’s letter as a ‘routine muscle flexing’ by smaller parties who want to remain relevant at a time when they could only win a single seat in the Lok Sabha election. Apna Dal has 13 MLAs in the State Assembly.