Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Sunday termed as an “anti-national step” the Government’s move of recruiting public servants through lateral entry, alleging that the reservation of SCs, STs and OBCs is being “openly snatched away” by such an action.

The former Congress President also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “attacking the Constitution by recruiting public servants through the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh instead of the Union Public Service Commission”.

Rahul’s  attack came after it emerged that 45 specialists would soon join key posts of Joint Secretaries, directors and Deputy Secretaries in different Central Ministries. Usually, such posts are manned by the officers of all-India services the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) and Group A services, among others.

“Reservation of SC, ST and OBC classes is being openly snatched away by recruiting through lateral entry on important posts in various ministries of the Central Government,” Rahul said in a post in Hindi on X. “I have always said that the underprivileged are not represented in all the country’s top posts, including the top bureaucracy. Instead of improving it, they are being pushed further away from the top posts through lateral entry,” he said.

“This is a robbery of the rights of talented youth preparing for UPSC and an attack on the concept of social justice including reservation for the underprivileged,” he alleged.

The SEBI is a vivid example of what representatives of a few corporates will do by sitting on decisive government posts, where for the first time a person from the private sector was made the chairperson, Rahul G said in an apparent reference to the conflicts of interest allegations against SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch.

The INDIA bloc will strongly oppose this “anti-national step” that hurts both the administrative structure and social justice, Rahul said.”Privatisation of the IAS is Modi’s guarantee for ending reservation,” he said.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Saturday advertised 45 posts -10 of joint secretaries and 35 of directors/deputy secretaries to be filled through the lateral entry mode on a contract basis. It is the biggest tranche of lateral recruitment being undertaken by the Centre, an official said.