Six non-BJP-ruled states sought the immediate withdrawal of the University Grants Commission (UGC) draft regulations as a united national Opposition on Thursday took up the fight against the Narendra Modi government’s plans for higher education that the Leader Of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi described as an attempt to push the Sangh parivar’s agenda.

On the invitation of Karnataka, the state education ministers of Kerala (R. Bindu), Tamil Nadu (Govi Cheziaan) and Himachal Pradesh (Rohit Thakur) participated in a conclave in Bengaluru against the draft UGC rules. Also present were Telangana’s IT and industries minister D. Sridhar Babu and Jharkhand MLA Sudivya Kumar.

Karnataka higher education minister M.C. Sudhakar said the six states decided unanimously that the UGC must engage in a collaborative, consultative process with all the states when framing these regulations.

Sudhakar said many states, including the allies of the BJP, have pointed out various flaws in the draft of the University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualification for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025.

"For instance, to become a vice-chancellor, one is eligible after 24 years of service and shouldering various responsibilities. But here in this draft, they say a person with managerial or industry experience of just 10 years can also be considered to be a vice-chancellor, which is not right," Sudhakar said.

Tamil Nadu higher education minister Cheziaan said the draft, allowing students to join and withdraw as they please — by allowing them to get a certificate after a year, a diploma after two years and a degree after three years — is disrespectful to the very idea of education.

"Education is not your market for you to come and go as you please," he said.

Cheziaan said they had identified 15 key points, including the crucial one that the state governments must be given a pivotal role in the appointment of VCs, which needs to be reconsidered before the draft can be passed.

Cheziaan said Tamil Nadu is already facing the issue of the governor rejecting the candidates suggested by the state government.

Bengal, which was conspicuous by its absence, also faces similar problems.

"The draft… does not envisage any role for the state governments in the appointment of VC of public universities," pointed out Cheziaan.

The Centre, Sudhakar said, was trying to forcefully bring in the National Education Policy into the system even when most of the states have opposed it.

“This is not in the federal Interest. The autonomy of the state should be protected," he said.

He said the 15-point resolution will be sent to the UGC.

"The states have already registered their opposition to the draft UGC regulations, and Karnataka has initiated a joint effort to question the UGC. Next month, Kerala is also planning to host such a gathering and take this forward," Sudhakar said.

The DMK organised a protest in Delhi, where Rahul Gandhi said the UGC's draft regulations on the appointment of teachers and academic staff in universities and colleges was an attempt to push the agenda of the RSS that aimed to achieve the Sangh’s idea of imposing "one history, one tradition, one language" on the country.

The Congress leader said the aim of the RSS was the eradication of all other histories, cultures and traditions of the country.

"That is its starting point and that is what it wants to achieve. It attacks the Constitution because it wants to achieve one idea which is its idea -- one history, one tradition, one language -- on this country," Rahul said.

"This attempt that it is doing with the education system of different states is just another attempt to push its agenda," he said.

"Each state has its traditions, history, language and that is why I keep saying that, in the Constitution, India is called a 'Union of States', that means all these histories, traditions, languages come together to make India the Union of States and so that is how we have to think about it.

"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.

The Tamil people have their history, language, traditions, and they have had their struggles, he said.

"Doing this is an insult to the Tamil people and also to all other states where the RSS is trying to impose its hegemony," he said of the UGC's draft regulations.

At the same event, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said the BJP and the RSS ”want to make politicians servants of industrialists.

“We can never support the New Education Policy,” he said.

The Congress on Wednesday said the justification that the rules had been updated for compliance with the New Education Policy, 2020, did not withstand scrutiny and that the draft must be rolled back.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the Opposition was “twisting progressive educational reforms into imaginary threats to sustain their outdated political narratives”.

In a post on X, Pradhan wrote: "The UGC draft regulations aim to broaden horizons, not narrow them. They seek to include more voices, not silence them. They uphold institutional autonomy and our linguistic diversity. They strengthen our academic institutions, not weaken them. But perhaps these facts are too inconvenient for those who prefer rhetoric over reality.”

He added: "I would humbly suggest that Shri @RahulGandhi and the self-proclaimed champions of Constitution invest some time in actually reading the draft regulations before launching their rehearsed political performances.”