Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Thursday that the draft regulations of the University Grants Commission were a part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s agenda to impose one history, tradition and language on the country.

At a protest against the regulations organised by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Gandhi claimed that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, wants to eradicate all other histories, cultures, and traditions, except those aligned with its beliefs.

“We have to respect all the languages, all the cultures, all the traditions, all the histories and we have to understand where they are coming from,” he said.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who also attended the protest, claimed that the New Education Policy was a “conspiracy to hand over universities to industrialists”. He alleged that the Centre “wants to take away all the powers of state governments”.

The draft UGC regulations have been framed in consonance with the National Education Policy of 2020.

The Union government released the draft rules on January 6 for feedback. The proposed rules would apply to central, state, private and deemed universities.

Among other changes, they propose revising the process for appointing teaching and administrative staff and granting chancellors more authority in selecting vice chancellors.

In most state-run universities, the chancellor is the governor, who is appointed by the Centre. Opposition-ruled states have argued that the new rules would give the Union government more control over vice chancellor appointments.

On Wednesday, seven state governments passed a joint resolution demanding that the draft regulations be withdrawn.

The resolution was adopted at the “Conclave of State Higher Education Ministers 2025”, organised by the Karnataka government to discuss the proposals. Education ministers from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir were signatories.

The resolution stated that state governments should play a central role in appointing vice chancellors to public universities and that limiting this power violated federal principles.

The University Grants Commission has defended the proposed rules, claiming the new process “eliminates ambiguity and ensures transparency.”

On January 10, University Grants Commission Chairman M Jagadeesh Kumar told ANI that the new rules provide “much-needed clarity” by specifying the composition of vice chancellor selection committees.

He said the committee would have three members: one selected by the chancellor, another by the University Grants Commission chairperson and a third by the university’s executive council or senate.