Congress MP Sukhdeo Bhagat backs UGC regulations, calls it "effort to ensure equality within country"

Speaking to ANI, Bhagat said the Constitution guarantees equality for all citizens and prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste or gender. He added that the UGC's move was in line with these values and should be welcomed.

"There are two important things. The Constitution provides for equality, and if the UGC has taken steps in that direction, then I believe these measures should be welcomed. After the Rohith Vemula case, such issues came to the forefront, and discussions like these began. So this is certainly an effort to ensure equality in the country, so that no one faces discrimination, neither on the basis of caste nor on the basis of gender. These are the principles, and the UGC has framed regulations in line with them," Sukhdeo Bhagat told ANI.

Congress leader Udit Raj also hit out at what he called a "casteist narrative" being built around the proposed equity committee in the new UGC regulation, accusing the BJP of spreading misinformation to polarise voters along caste lines.

He asked why SCs, STs and OBCs are being portrayed as separate from Hindus, and said legal processes function on evidence and judicial scrutiny, not prejudice.

"...I have read the gazette notification. Its committee is being discussed. It is being said that if the committee makes one-sided decisions, it can be against 'Savarna' students...Lies are being spread that the equity committee will make one-sided decisions...I believe that BJP is probably playing a game that 100% of the 'Savarnas' vote for them and it wants to appease SCs, STs, OBCs too...Why is a narrative being built? Secondly, are SCs, ST and OBCs not Hindus?...If a committee has been built to stop discrimination, it is good. But the controversy over it, that one-sided action will be taken against 'Savarnas' and how can action be taken against evidence? Be it a rape or sexual assault or dowry - all laws function just like this. Raise this question there too, that how is a case being registered without evidence? It is the court which does this. This is a wrong and casteist mindset," he said.

This comes 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.

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. (ANI)