NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that eligible candidates from SC, ST, and OBC communities were being deliberately declared 'not found suitable' to keep them away from education and leadership.
Gandhi made the remark in a post on X, sharing a video of his recent interaction with students of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU).
"'Not Found Suitable' is the new Manuvaad now. Eligible candidates from SC/ST/OBC are being deliberately declared 'unsuitable' so that they are kept away from education and leadership," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said in his post in Hindi.
'Manuvaad' is the ethos of a society governed by Manusmriti. Gandhi quoted B R Ambedkar to hail education as the biggest weapon for equality, and accused the Narendra Modi-led Union government and the RSS of subverting this power.
"The Modi government is busy blunting that weapon," he said.
Gandhi said that more than 60 per cent of the reserved posts of Professor and more than 30 per cent of the reserved posts of Associate Professor have been kept vacant by using the 'Not Found Suitable (NFS)' mechanism.
"This is no exception. The same conspiracy is going on everywhere, IITs, Central Universities. NFS is an attack on the Constitution. NFS is a betrayal of social justice," he said.
The former Congress president said getting reservation was a matter of fighting for rights, respect, and participation.
"I spoke to the students of DUSU, now we all together will answer every anti-reservation move of BJP/RSS with the power of the Constitution," he said.
In the video, Gandhi is heard telling the students that the Hindutva project's foundation is to erase the history of the SCs, STs, and OBCs.
"Why is 90 per cent's history not in our books? Why is only 10 per cent's history in our books? Why is it not written, for example, in our history books that for 3,000 years, Dalits have been treated like dirt, have not been respected, have not been given any space in our society?" he says during the interaction.
On May 22, the DU objected to Gandhi's unannounced visit to its North Campus, calling it a breach of institutional protocol and a disruption of student governance operations.
"Shri Rahul Gandhi has done this for the second time. Coming to the university without any intimation and information to University of Delhi," the proctor's office had said in an official release.
That day, Gandhi interacted with students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes on the North Campus.
The session was held at the office of the DUSU president, who belongs to NSUI, a Congress-affiliated outfit.