Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Modi government, accusing it of systemic discrimination against Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) through the controversial “Not Found Suitable” (NFS) label used in higher education faculty recruitment.
Calling the practice a “new form of Manuvaad,” Gandhi alleged that the NFS categorisation is being misused to deliberately disqualify deserving candidates from marginalized communities and deny them positions of leadership in academia.
“‘Not Found Suitable’ is the new Manuvaad. Qualified SC/ST/OBC candidates are being deliberately ‘disqualified’—to keep them away from education and leadership,” Gandhi posted on X.
He cited alarming figures from Delhi University, stating that more than 60% of reserved posts for professors and over 30% for associate professors remain unfilled under the NFS tag.
Gandhi condemned the practice as a betrayal of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s vision of education as a tool for empowerment and equality. “Babasaheb had said: Education is the biggest weapon for equality. But the Modi government is busy blunting that weapon,” he wrote.
The Congress leader also extended the criticism to other prestigious institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Central Universities, accusing the government of orchestrating a broader campaign to undermine reservation and social justice.
“This is no exception—IITs, Central Universities, the same conspiracy is going on everywhere. NFS is an attack on the Constitution. NFS is a betrayal of social justice,” he said.
Calling it a fight for “rights, respect and participation,” Gandhi pledged to stand with students and activists to counter what he described as anti-reservation policies by the BJP-RSS establishment.
“I spoke to DUSU students—now together we will respond to every anti-reservation move of BJP/RSS with the power of the Constitution,” he concluded.