New Delhi: While the UGC equity regulations have put the BJP on the defensive, the Opposition too finds itself in a bind, torn between opposing the rules and tackling an upper-caste backlash if it backs them.
This tightrope walk is evident in the cautious stance adopted by parties such as the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP).
The Congress, which has in recent years made social justice the cornerstone of its political pitch, has so far avoided taking a maximalist position on the issue. Instead, the party appears divided, with leaders articulating differing views.
Even leaders closely aligned with Rahul Gandhi’s emphasis on caste and social justice have stopped short of openly endorsing the rules, mindful of the risk of further alienating upper-caste voters who have steadily drifted away from the party.
At the same time, some Congress leaders, including Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai, have criticised the regulations, describing them as an attempt to sow divisions in society. The party leadership, however, has urged leaders critical of the rules to calibrate their responses so as not to undermine its parallel effort to consolidate support among Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Other opposition parties appear to be grappling with a similar predicament. Asked about the regulations, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav offered a non-committal response on Wednesday, saying, “The guilty should not be spared, and the innocent should not be framed.”
As protests against the new UGC rules intensified Tuesday, the Congress’s Parliamentary Strategy Group, chaired by Sonia Gandhi, met in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, among others.
Although the meeting was convened to finalise the party’s strategy for the Budget Session of Parliament that began Wednesday, the controversy over the UGC rules also figured in the discussions, sources said.
Asked about the party’s position after the meeting, Congress MP and Rajya Sabha whip Naseer Hussain reiterated the party’s long-standing demand for a caste census. “We have been demanding a caste census, and all issues would be taken up and resolved through the caste census,” he told reporters.
A further complication for the Congress is that several recommendations now incorporated into the notified UGC regulations originated from a parliamentary committee chaired by senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh.
In its report tabled in Parliament on 8 December 2025, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports had recommended that the draft regulations explicitly include measures against harassment of students and other stakeholders from the OBC community within the definition of caste-based discrimination, in line with the constitutional recognition of OBCs as Socially and Educationally Backward Classes under Articles 15(4) and 15(5).
Senior Congress sources argued that the government bears responsibility for the current controversy, noting that had it accepted another key committee recommendation—clearly listing discriminatory practices instead of leaving their interpretation to individual educational institutions—much of the confusion could have been avoided.
For now, the Congress appears to be treading carefully, allowing its student wing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), to take the lead, while the central leadership remains in a wait-and-watch mode.
In a statement, the NSUI said it “welcomes the UGC Regulations on Caste-Based Discrimination as a necessary step towards addressing discrimination on campuses across the country” but cautioned that the committee proposed under the rules “must not remain symbolic or administrative in nature”.
“The current regulations are silent on the leadership and composition of this committee. Any attempt to create a puppet body controlled by university administrations would defeat the very purpose of equity and justice,” the NSUI said.
The new regulations mandating all higher education institutions to form “equity committees” to look into discrimination complaints and promote equity were notified on 13 January.
The UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, mandated that these committees must include members of the Other Backward Classes (OBC), the Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST), persons with disabilities, and women.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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