Mallikarjun Kharge blames BJP for 'massive cuts' in SC, ST, OBC, and minority students' increase in scholarship

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for cutting down scholarships for students from SC, ST, OBC, and minority groups systematically, accusing the Modi government of having hit very hard the educational prospects of the marginalised youth.

Kharge, in an X post, quoted government figures from Rajya Sabha replies and budget papers to point to a supposed decrease in recipients of the scholarships in the last decade. He asserted that funds for such programmes had also been reduced by 25 per cent per annum on average.

Your government has snatched away the SC, ST, OBC and Minority youths' scholarships of the nation. These embarrassing government figures indicate that the Modi government has not only slashed the number of beneficiaries under all scholarships phenomenally but has also expended 25 per cent fewer funds on average every year," Kharge posted on X.

The Congress President also wondered how the nation could provide jobs to its young people if poor students were not provided with the right kind of support. He criticized the BJP's Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas slogan, terming it as an empty rhetoric that "mocks the aspirations of the weaker sections."

Unless and until the weaker sections of students receive opportunities and their talent gets an impetus, how shall we be creating employment for youth in our nation? Your tagline of "Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas" taunts the weaker sections' aspirations every single day," Kharge stated.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), accusing them of going against the Constitution.

A struggle of ideology is on in India. One side, the Congress party, has faith in the Constitution and is struggling for it. On the other side, RSS and BJP are against the Indian Constitution, the constitution of BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi, dilute it and they want to scrap it. The Indian Constitution is not a book but centuries and thousands of years old thinking of India. There is a voice and thinking of great personalities of India in this constitution," the Congress leader added.