The University of Delhi on Friday rejected allegations made by Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who had claimed that the university conducts interviews to filter out students belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC).
The Congress leader had alleged that interviews were used as a mechanism to prevent certain students from securing admission.
Speaking at a public event, Gandhi said he had visited Delhi University and claimed that interviews were designed to eliminate students based on their caste.
He said that students were allegedly failed in interviews after being asked about their caste, adding that such practices were simple methods of exclusion. Gandhi also criticised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, alleging that senior positions within the organisation did not include representation from OBC, Dalit, or tribal communities. He said, “I went to Delhi University. The way interviews are used to eliminate children is this, ‘What is your caste, brother? You fail the interview.’ Simple as that. Take out the list of RSS organisations. Look at the list of their pracharaks, their senior RSS centre, you will not find a single OBC, not a single Dalit, not a single tribal person there. And this is completely against the Constitution.”
Rahul Gandhi’s Statement Sparks Storm
“Students are being failed based on caste…” – Rahul Gandhi cites ‘DU student interviews.’@shreyadhoundial shares more updates. pic.twitter.com/PCDK1GkGLD
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 13, 2026
Delhi University Response
In response, Delhi University issued a statement clarifying that its admission process does not rely on interviews for most undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
The university said admissions are primarily conducted through scores obtained in the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), which forms the basis of the standard admission procedure.
According to the university, interviews are not part of the regular admission process for the majority of courses, and therefore the question of discrimination through such interviews does not arise.
The university added that if Gandhi’s comments were referring to recruitment processes, such as faculty appointments, those follow established procedures and regulations.
Delhi University stated that in recent years it had recruited thousands of teachers across different categories.
Taking to X, they wrote, “The University of Delhi admits students primarily based on the CUET scores, and the standard admission process does not mandate interviews for most undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. If the Leader of Opposition was referring to recruitments (such as faculty positions), the University in the recent past has recruited thousands of teachers across all categories. We strongly object to such comments, as they create a non-conducive environment in the University. The Leader of Opposition should have verified the facts before making such a statement.”
The University of Delhi admits students primarily based on the CUET scores, and the standard admission process does not mandate interviews for most undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.If the Leader of Opposition was referring to recruitments (such as faculty positions), the… https://t.co/1zTO4gpyxH
— University of Delhi (@UnivofDelhi) March 13, 2026
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