New Delhi: Whereas the UGC fairness rules have put the BJP on the defensive, the Opposition too finds itself in a bind, torn between opposing the foundations and tackling an upper-caste backlash if it backs them.

This tightrope stroll is clear within the cautious stance adopted by events such because the Congress and the Samajwadi Occasion (SP).

Even leaders intently aligned with Rahul Gandhi’s emphasis on caste and social justice have stopped wanting overtly endorsing the foundations, aware of the chance of additional alienating upper-caste voters who’ve steadily drifted away from the get together.

On the similar time, some Congress leaders, together with Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai, have criticised the rules, describing them as an try and sow divisions in society. The get together management, nonetheless, has urged leaders essential of the foundations to calibrate their responses in order to not undermine its parallel effort to consolidate help amongst Different Backward Courses (OBCs).

Different opposition events look like grappling with an identical predicament. Requested concerning the rules, Samajwadi Occasion chief Akhilesh Yadav provided a non-committal response on Wednesday, saying, “The responsible shouldn’t be spared, and the harmless shouldn’t be framed.”

As protests in opposition to the brand new UGC guidelines intensified Tuesday, the Congress’s Parliamentary Technique Group, chaired by Sonia Gandhi, met in New Delhi. The assembly was attended by Leaders of Opposition within the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, amongst others.

Though the assembly was convened to finalise the get together’s technique for the Funds Session of Parliament that started Wednesday, the controversy over the UGC guidelines additionally figured within the discussions, sources stated.

Requested concerning the get together’s place after the assembly, Congress MP and Rajya Sabha whip Naseer Hussain reiterated the get together’s long-standing demand for a caste census. “We’ve got been demanding a caste census, and all points can be taken up and resolved by way of the caste census,” he informed reporters.

An extra complication for the Congress is that a number of suggestions now integrated into the notified UGC rules originated from a parliamentary committee chaired by senior Congress chief and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh.

In its report tabled in Parliament on 8 December 2025, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Training, Ladies, Kids, Youth and Sports activities had really useful that the draft rules explicitly embrace measures in opposition to harassment of scholars and different stakeholders from the OBC group inside the definition of caste-based discrimination, according to the constitutional recognition of OBCs as Socially and Educationally Backward Courses underneath Articles 15(4) and 15(5).

Senior Congress sources argued that the federal government bears duty for the present controversy, noting that had it accepted one other key committee advice—clearly itemizing discriminatory practices as an alternative of leaving their interpretation to particular person academic establishments—a lot of the confusion might have been prevented.

For now, the Congress seems to be treading fastidiously, permitting its pupil wing, the Nationwide College students’ Union of India (NSUI), to take the lead, whereas the central management stays in a wait-and-watch mode.

In an announcement, the NSUI stated it “welcomes the UGC Rules on Caste-Primarily based Discrimination as a obligatory step in direction of addressing discrimination on campuses throughout the nation” however cautioned that the committee proposed underneath the foundations “should not stay symbolic or administrative in nature”.

“The present rules are silent on the management and composition of this committee. Any try and create a puppet physique managed by college administrations would defeat the very function of fairness and justice,” the NSUI stated.

The brand new rules mandating all increased schooling establishments to kind “fairness committees” to look into discrimination complaints and promote fairness have been notified on 13 January.

The UGC (Promotion of Fairness in Larger Training Establishments) Rules, 2026, mandated that these committees should embrace members of the Different Backward Courses (OBC), the Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST), individuals with disabilities, and girls.

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)

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