– 45 posts will be filled through lateral entry so that expertise can be included in the system and competition can be promoted – Modi government.
– Through this recruitment, the government is going to appoint people associated with RSS to key posts of UPSC through backdoor. Lateral entry is an attack on the rights of Dalits, OBCs and tribals – Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition
– This type of system has been running since the time of Nehru, even during the time of UPA, the system of lateral entry was proposed and arranged by the Reform Commission, now why is the opposition creating ruckus on this – Ashwini Vaishnav, Union Minister
And finally the government wrote to UPSC that the posts to be filled through lateral entry should be cancelled.
What happened? Why did the climax of this positive story of the government happen like this?
This is not the first example. It has been happening continuously for the last few days that the government has to give clarification on some of its steps and has to take steps back. Have to go on backfoot. The frustration is visible. BJP is also not able to raise any issue of its government very aggressively. From media to social media, the government seems to be on the back foot. After all, where has the strong hold of the Modi government or the BJP gone, due to which it used to be successful in silencing the opposition? After all, where has that powerful communication skill gone due to which people used to admire Modi? After all, where is that mass dialogue of well-educated leaders in the school of RSS, due to which only and only Modi…Modi…Namo…Namo…resonated all around! Why has a powerful government suddenly started appearing so helpless…what is the reason for this?
Amidst the uproar between the parties and the opposition on lateral entry, let us first know what is the whole matter?
So let’s start from the beginning… What happened was that the government issued an advertisement for lateral entry for 45 posts of Joint Secretary, Director or Deputy Secretary. There was an uproar regarding this. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi cornered the government on this issue. He said that through this recruitment, the government is going to appoint people associated with RSS to key posts of UPAC through backdoor. Lateral entry is an attack on Dalits, OBCs and tribals. This destructive version of BJP’s Ramrajya wants to destroy the Constitution and snatch reservation from backward classes. The interests of reserved classes are being killed. Akhilesh Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav also came to support him. Government minister Chirag Paswan also had to speak on this issue that this should not happen.
When the opposition became the attacker, the government also became active… started counterattacking. Tried to convince the public that this system is the creation of the opposition only. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that it was the UPA government which had brought the concept of lateral entry. The second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) was brought in 2005 during the UPA government. This commission was headed by Veerappa Moily. During the tenure of the UPA government, the Commission had suggested that experts should be appointed to the posts where special knowledge is required. On behalf of NDA, it was said that the government has adopted a transparent method to implement the recommendations of the commission. Then why the ruckus?
But it is being seen that the government is not able to raise this issue very effectively. Whereas earlier this did not happen. The last two governments of Modi used to attack the opposition, especially Rahul Gandhi, fiercely. The opposition, including the Congress, found itself incapable of raising any issue on a large scale. Now, what has suddenly happened that the opposition is proving successful in pushing the government and BJP on the back foot by raising this issue in a very forceful manner. Whereas the irony is that in reality the system of lateral entry came into existence through the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) formed in 2005 during the UPA government. Even long before this Commission, Congress governments had appointed experts in a number of fields. The biggest example of this was Manmohan Singh, who was brought into the Indira Raj in 1971 as an economic advisor in the then Ministry of Foreign Trade as a lateral entry and later became the Finance Minister and Prime Minister. Other prominent people include the names of technocrats Sam Pitroda and V. Krishnamurthy, economists Bimal Jalan, Kaushik Basu, Arvind Virmani, Raghuram Rajan and Ahluwalia, RG Patel, RV Shahi. Even Nandan Nilekani associated with Infosys was made the chairman of UIDAI related to Aadhaar.
Also read: ‘It is necessary to have reservation in government recruitment…’, Chirag Paswan said on the lateral entry controversy in UPSC.
So why is line loss happening?
Despite all this ammunition against Congress, where is the government going wrong? Because eco is not being talked about…
From the time of Nehru to the Manmohan government, people were brought in through lateral entry. Even the appointment of experts from different fields in the National Advisory Council during the UPA government also falls in this category. Despite having so much incendiary material against Congress, why was the government not successful in putting it on the backfoot? If seen, the main reason behind this is – line loss in communication… Earlier the communication between the government and the BJP used to flow from top to bottom in a very systematic manner. Big statements were echoed with great enthusiasm. If PM Modi raised any issue or attacked any opposition leader, the entire machinery and big leaders of BJP would get busy in raising that statement or issue from top to bottom. There was a lot of clarity factually. Here, RSS workers used to make a big contribution in this direction. On the contrary, the opposition did not have an organized cadre to respond to any issue. Neither was there such powerful machinery. The problem of communication clarity was different. Now if something is said by the government, it is not echoed very effectively below. A kind of apathy is visible among the leaders and workers. A lot of line loss is visible. The matter is not reaching the bottom. Public opinion does not seem to be formed. The opposition is blowing the issue away. And opposition parties are succeeding in presenting their views in a more effective manner.
Popular leaders on the margins: Distinct language style – Jan Samvad…
Earlier, big and popular leaders of BJP like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Shivraj Singh, Rajnath Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Raman Singh, Anurag Thakur, Prakash Javadekar used to leave no scope for the opposition by giving continuous statements on any issue. He had recognition and credibility in the entire country. Now many such leaders in BJP are marginalized or have disappeared from the scene. Or their activism is not of that kind. Their place has been taken by leaders like Ashwini Vaishnav, S. Jaishankar, Hardeep Singh Puri. These leaders are knowledgeable about administrative system. But they neither have the support base. Nor does he have the same credibility among the public. The language of their communication is also very much official. Whereas to convey any issue to the general public, everything from the language of the common people, very local examples, manners to delivery, everything seems to be lost. Public communication appears scattered. The way BJP leaders used to connect with the people earlier, there is now a severe lack of it.
Also read: Congress-JDU oppose lateral entry in bureaucracy, allege bypassing of reservation
Nehru…Nehru…Nehru, the root of every problem: This Brahmastra is no longer working…
For some time, the trend of blaming Nehru for almost every problem was going on in the Modi government. This trick seemed to be working in many of the initial cases. It was accepted that Nehru’s policies were at the root of every major problem of the country. Then the facts were also visible in support. But later the wolf came…the wolf came…it was talked about so many times that this matter came to the fore. Gradually it became ineffective. But the government and its associated ministers or big leaders did not pay attention to this in time and continued the campaign to hold Nehru responsible. This overdose of Nehru has now started backfiring. But BJP leaders are finding themselves unable to understand this. People believe that if you have been running the government for the last decade, then responsibility for any problem cannot be put on anyone else. No one else can be held responsible. You have to look into your own backyard. You will have to move forward and take accountability for your shortcomings and weaknesses. The public is ready to forgive but perhaps no longer ready to listen to excuses to avoid accountability. So in the echo of Nehru-Nehru-Nehru, perhaps the party or the government seems to be ignoring even simple things like introspection.
Also read: Lateral entry in IAS has no adverse effect on bureaucracy: Modi government
So what is in favor of Modi government or BJP?
The biggest thing in favor of BJP or Modi government is that they have a good history of bounce back. He has no equal in identifying shortcomings and making quick corrections in them. It can only be hoped that this will be seen happening soon… otherwise they have the example of the Congress Party or their governments which have repeated the same mistakes in the past which the government or BJP is seen committing today.
Before this, the country has also seen the era when Sangh and BJP had divided the caste card between Mandal and Kamandal, but this war is long. It remains to be seen what the government and the BJP organization will do to counter the opposition’s weapon of reservation and what will be the public’s share?