The Opposition has criticised the Centre’s decision to recruit individuals from the private sector for 45 positions of joint secretaries, directors, and deputy secretaries across 24 Union ministries through lateral entry on contract basis.

The Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal accused the Narendra Modi government of conspiring to undermine reservations in government jobs for marginalised communities.

The recruitment announcement was made by the Union Public Service Commission on Saturday. The joint secretary positions include two in the finance ministry, and one each in the home ministry and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, among others.

The Union Public Service Commission is a constitutional body that conducts the recruitment of officers to the All India Services and the Central Civil Services.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge denounced the Centre’s decision on Saturday as a “double attack” on reservations, alleging it is a tactic to deny opportunities to aspirants from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and the Economically Weaker Sections.

“The BJP, which has ripped apart the Constitution, has launched a double attack on reservation!” Kharge said in a social media post. “First, the Modi government issued an advertisement to fill at least 45 posts of Joint Secretary, Directors and Deputy Secretary at the Centre through Lateral Entry. Is there reservation for SC, ST, OBC and EWS?”

Kharge said: “As part of a well-planned conspiracy, the BJP is deliberately making such recruitments in jobs so that SC, ST, OBC categories can be kept away from reservation.”

This is why the Congress is calling for a caste census to ensure social justice, Kharge added.

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said that the decision was an “anti-national step”, alleging that the quotas for the marginalised communities was being “openly snatched”.

“A prime example of what representatives of a few corporates will do by occupying key government positions is SEBI [Securities and Exchange Board of India], where for the first time a person from the private sector has been made the chairperson,” the Congress leader said on social media. “INDIA [Opposition bloc] will strongly oppose this anti-national move which hurts both the administrative structure and social justice.”

Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal, said that the Modi government was “messing with the reservation”.

“This advertisement is a small example of how the Modi government at the Centre is cracking a dirty joke on and messing with the Constitution written by Baba Saheb and reservation,” Tejashwi said on social media, alongside copies of the order issued by the Union Public Service Commission.

“If UPSC had appointed 45 IAS through the civil service examination, then it would have had to provide reservation to SC/ST and OBC, i.e. out of the 45, 22-23 candidates would have been selected from Dalit, backward and tribal classes,” he said on Saturday.

Accusing the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government of “ending reservation in a systematic, planned and cunning manner”, the former deputy chief minister of Bihar urged persons belonging to the Dalit, Other Backward Classes and Tribal communities, and the poor among the general category, to “wake up”.

“The public will not forgive those who usurp the rights of 90% of the country’s population,” Yadav said.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said that the move was a “clear attempt to infiltrate RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] personnel to further its agenda to subvert our Constitutional Scheme”.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is the parent organisation of the BJP.