‘No limit to hypocrisy’: Jairam Ramesh takes jibe at ministers over lateral entry move remarks

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday took a jibe at some ministers, saying those who were blaming former prime minister Manmohan Singh over the lateral entry issue have suddenly been “derailed” and forced to hail PM Narendra Modi after the Centre decided to cancel the latest lateral entry recruitment.

His remarks came after the Centre on Tuesday asked the UPSC to cancel the latest lateral entry recruitment, amid the row over reservation in the advertised posts.

“Till last evening, Dr. Manmohan Singh was being blamed by Union Ministers for the mass lateral entry scheme into the bureaucracy. Some friendly commentators expectedly even extended the line of blame back to (Jawaharlal) Nehru,” Congress general secretary in-charge communications Ramesh said.

“Now the very same ministers have suddenly been derailed and are being forced to hail the non-biological PM as a champion of social justice. Hypocrisy ki koi seema nahin hai (There is no limit to hypocrisy)!” Ramesh said.

In another post, Ramesh tagged the Information and Broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s posts on X on Sunday and Tuesday, and said, “The difference between reel and real life.”

In his post on Sunday, Vaishnaw had said the Congress’s criticism of the lateral entry system in senior bureaucracy shows its “hypocrisy”, and asserted that the BJP-led NDA government had created a transparent method to implement the concept developed by the UPA dispensation. He said the reform measure implemented by the NDA government will improve governance.

After the government’s decision to withdraw the lateral entry advertisement, Vaishnaw posted on X on Tuesday, “Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi Ji has always firmly believed in social justice. His programmes have advanced welfare of the weakest sections of our society.”

He added, “The decision to align lateral entry with principles of reservation shows PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s commitment to social justice.”

Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal also, on Monday, hit out at Rahul Gandhi for his claim that the government was trying to bypass the reservation system through lateral entry, reminding the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha that Manmohan Singh was made the finance secretary in 1976 through the lateral entry route.

The minister also dismissed as “baseless” Gandhi’s allegation that RSS people will be hired as public servants through this mode and pointed out that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who made the system of lateral entry methodical by giving the mandate to UPSC for framing rules. Earlier, he had pointed out, there was no formal system in place for such entry into governance.

Meghwal said that former Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had entered service through the lateral entry route. He said CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi was made head of the National Advisory Council. “The prime minister’s is a constitutional post. But is NAC a constitutional body,” he quipped, adding, Gandhi was placed above the prime minister.

He also alleged that former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed reservation in 1961 and as the leader of opposition, Rajiv Gandhi opposed OBC reservation on the floor of Lok Sabha.